“More than 1 000 people died in farm attacks since 1991 to 2000 -- Agri SA August 07, 2001, 15:45 by Keith Knott:

“Since 1991 more than a thousand people, mostly commercial farmers, have died in 5 594 attacks on farms, Agri South Africa said today. The statistics were released by Annelize Crosby, Agri SA director of legal and management services, who said they would form part of a submission on behalf of farmers to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC). Agri SA, which represents about 45 000 commercial farmers and 35 000 emerging farmers, was in the process of compiling a submission on what farmers perceived to be human rights abuses against them. Cross said the security issue, apart from land rights, was the single most important issue for commercial farmers. Farmers increasingly felt their basic human rights, as guaranteed in the Constitution, were being ignored by government. Yesterday the Democratic Alliance said a lack of security on farms has resulted in South African farmers now living in "a continuous state of terror". Human Rights Commission recently launched national investigationThe SAHRC recently launched a national year long project to investigate human rights abuses on farms under the banners of land rights and tenancy, safety and security and social and economic rights. The commission has asked for submissions from farmers and farm workers alike. Crosby said a submission, made on behalf of the federation's affiliated agricultural unions, would be finished by the end of the week. "We will make a written submission and most probably also a verbal submission. The material used for our submission will be made available to all our members. We have also called on individual farmers to make submissions to the commission," Crosby said. The security issue moved back under the spotlight this week when Johan Stapelberg, 40, and his brother-in-law Hendrik Johannes Uys, 35, were killed during an attack on a farm near Boons in the North West Province on Saturday. The two had reacted to an emergency call from a neighbour. Two days later two more farmers were injured during attacks.

The Transvaal Agricultural Union (TAU) today said the escalating flood of attacks and barbarism aimed at South African farmers had reached a level at which it could no longer be tolerated. Gert Ehlers, TAU President, said the politicians' silence on the issue only sanctioned these attacks and the state was failing dismally to ensure the rights of the country's people to live in a safe and secure environment. "If the government cannot or will not fulfil this responsibility, they should come out and say so," Ehlers said.

Recorded attacks over past ten years

According Agri SA statistics farm attacks had increased dramatically since 1998 and the escalation showed no signs of slackening off.

in 1992; 365 attacks and 63 murders,

in 1993; 442 attacks and 84 murders,

in 1994; 443 attacks and 92 murders,

in 1995; 551 attacks and 120 murders,

in 1996; 486 attacks and 109 murders,

in 1997; 433 attacks and 85 murders,

in 1998; 769 attacks and 142 murders,

in 1999; 813 attacks and 144 murders and

in 2000; 902 attacks and 142 murders.

Illegal occupations to be raised In addition to expressing concern over safety and security, Cross said Agri SA would also make a submission on the land rights issue. The federation recently stated that current legislation rendered landowners helpless against large scale illegal squatting. The Prevention of Illegal Evictions Act afforded more protection to illegal occupiers than to land owners. East Rand farmer Braam Duvenhage earlier this month attempted to remove about 40 000 illegal occupants from his property at Modderklip near Daveyton after obtaining a court order for the eviction of the squatters on his land in May last year. However, the local bailiff refused to remove them before the cost of eviction, amounting to R1,8 million, had been paid. Agri SA has called on government to review the current legislation to pre-empt more land invasions. The federation will also make submissions on other matters which affect farmers and farm workers. These include the deterioration of rural roads, farm schools, a lack of housing and unemployment in rural areas. - Sapa Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/crime1justice/0,1009,18954,00.html

Training video found on how to kill farmers, says farming organisationMarch 30, 2001, 07:30 Police commissioner Steve Tshwete comforts a tearful Moek van Rensburg, father of murdered Nicholas van Rensburg Representatives of organised agriculture say they possess a police document which claims that an unnamed organisation is paying people and giving them weapons to destabilise the farming community. This comes after a spate of killings in the farming community last week. Organisations such as Action Stop Farm Attacks and Agri South Africa say they have launched their own investigation into farm killings. They say a training video on how to murder farmers was recently found in the possession of six suspects Werner Webber, chairperson of Action Stop Farm Attacks, says he has a police document which states that an organisation which he refused to name is paying people R2000 a piece and giving them weapons to kill farmers. He says he received the document from military sources. Webber says the purpose is to force farmers off their land. However, Sally De Beer, a police spokesperson, says the police are unaware of any such video or documents. Webber also says an investigation has shown that only 10% of farm attacks are committed by farm workers. Tshwete promises tighter security Meanwhile, Steve Tshwete, Safety and Security Minister, says farmers have every right to be angry and frustrated about farm attacks. Tshwete was addressing the farming community of Marikana, in the North West Province yesterday, after two farmers, Pieter Raath and Nicholas van Rensburg, were murdered in the district earlier this week. Tshwete told the farmers that he would do everything possible to ensure their safety and to enable them to get on with their lives. He said that a committee appointed to investigate farm killings would visit the area in two months time. He asked farmers to nominate farm workers to undergo training as reservists, and said four helicopters would be deployed to help curb farm attacks. Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/general/0,1009,13019,00.html--- Tshwete says government will protect farmers March 29, 2001, 17:30 Steve Tshwete comforts a tearful Moek van Rensburg, father of murdered Nicholas van Rensburg Farmers have every right to be angry and frustrated after two farm murders in the Marico area in North West this week, Steve Tshwete, safety and security minister said today. Addressing the outraged Marikana community, he said: "I'm not going to let you down. I will do everything in my command to ensure that you are safe and can go on with your lives. Don't lose hope, we are going to make it right." Tshwete, accompanied by Japie Grobler, Agri SA president, police and government officials, visited the area in the wake of the murder of Pieter Raath (51), and Nicholas van Rensburg (35). Raath was stabbed to death at Mooinooi on Monday and Van Rensburg was shot dead outside Marikana on Tuesday. Van Rensburg's mother, Hester, was wounded in the back and was discharged from hospital today. Tshwete, travelling in one of the four Squirrel helicopters acquired to help police in the fight against farm attacks, first visited the local police station before going to the Van Rensburg residence. Tears streaming down his face, Moek van Rensburg pointed out where his son was attacked and the spot under a fig tree where his body was found. "What must I do? I am not angry. My heart is broken. Please help me," pleaded Van Rensburg, as Tshwete hugged him. Emotions ran high at a public meeting with Tshwete and Grobler in the Marikana community hall. When asked to switch off all cell phones, someone shouted: "Our wives are alone on the farms. We live in South Africa. We refuse to switch of our cell phones." Farmers say they are in a state of war In his address, Grobler said: "We are in a state of war." Although President Thabo Mbeki did a lot of good, for instance with the economy, the country needed a champion against crime Grobler said. The government failed dismally in protecting people's lives and property, which was a most basic right, he added. Condemning farm attacks as outrageous and treacherous, Tshwete said the full wrath of the law would be unleashed upon those responsible. "If you are killing the farming community, you are killing the country." Reacting to calls for the reinstatement of the death penalty, he said it would be very difficult to go to the South African electorate now and get them to endorse the death sentence. This was met with applause from the audience. The minister called on farm residents countrywide to identify people from each farm to be trained as police reservists. "We have a budget for that. We want to train no less than 30 000 reservists." - Sapa Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/crime1justice/0,1009,13000,00.html

Gang brutally beats farm couple 12/12/2003 21:58 - (SA) George's Valley - A Limpopo farmer on Friday told how five men viciously attacked a fellow farmer and his wife on Friday morning with golf clubs and sharpened wooden poles pulled from their garden. Peter Drake told how John Lougher-Clarke, 58, and his wife, Gayle, were attacked in their home in George's Valley, between Tzaneen and Haenertsburg. Lougher-Clarke is in a critical condition in Limpopo Medi-Clinic in Polokwane. Drake, who lives near the Lougher-Clarkes and is a member of the local reaction unit, said he received an emergency call from Mrs Lougher-Clark about 03:40. Drake said he rushed to the aid of the victims. He said Lougher-Clark's arm was severed during the attack and his right leg was broken. Fled from the house on foot He said Lougher-Clarke was beaten to a pulp and left for dead. His wife was also beaten by the group of men and left tied up. The attackers aparently forced her to open the safe and stole a handgun and an R-4 rifle. They also took jewellery and a video machine before fleeing on foot. Dave Protter from Armed Response emergency services said Lougher-Clarke's injuries were a result of "torture". The Limpopo Medi-Clinic on Friday confirmed that Lougher-Clarke had been seriously assaulted. Captain Moatshe Ngoepe said police and residents were carrying out a largescale manhunt for the attackers, but by late on Friday no arrests had been made. Source... http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1459019,00.html

NB: THERE ARE SEVERAL DISCREPANCIES IN THE REPORT BELOW & THE ONE ABOVE... ALSO A TWIST IN THE TAIL OF THIS TALE: writes Keith Knott of Crime Busters of South Africa:

Btw, the Dave (David) Protter mentioned in the report above is the same person who staged the Herschelle Building, 'Israeli Embassy Siege' in Johannesburg during the the 1970's. Protter was a security guard/consultant at the embassy, when he held the staff and visitors hostage for some, or other, obscure reason. I was a witness to this madness, which went far into the night and saw several people wounded in the cross-fire between Protter and the SAP, including SA tycoon Tony Factor's young son, who incurred a shrapnel wound in his arm, before we (Tony factor's wife and younger child with several other passersby) escaped through the back of the then, 'His Majesty's Theatre' (now demolished).Both Protter and the SAP used high-powered automatic military assault rifles, which did much damage to the surrounding buildings during the exchange of fire. The glass-facade of the then Trust Bank building was quite seriously damaged during the chaos and so was the 'Steakman Restaurant' next door to the embassy building. At one stage, it was thought that the embassy building had been taken over by members of the infamous 'Red Brigade'.As far as I can remember (there has been a lot of water under the bridge since those days so I hope that my memory is accurate), a year after the 'Protter-Siege' the SAP instituted an investigation into their short-comings during this siege and soon thereafter, an elite anti-terrorist unit (SWAT Team?) was formed under the command of Brigadier 'Rooi Russe' ex-Durban SAP Chief.Now for the twist in the tail of this tale...At the conclusion of the 'Israeli Embassy Siege', as it became known, we were informed that it was just a spat between a disgruntled employer (Protter) and his bosses (The Israeli Embassy).Was there a cover-up? Who knows?Now some 30-years later we have yet another conflicting story on our hands. The same 'players' are on the stage yet again. Dear old Protter and the SAP. Keith Knott aka wotknott@hotmail.com

Robbers attack elderly couple 12/12/2003 11:45 - (SA)

Limpopo - A 60-year-old farmer and his wife were attacked and robbed at their farm in Georges Valley, outside Tzaneen in the early hours of Friday morning, Limpopo police said. Captain Moatshe Ngoepe said five armed robbers entered the house by forcing open the back door. The robbers approached the victim, John Lacraclark and demanded that he give them his firearms. They then beat him on his leg and arm with a golf club. Lacraclark's wife was hit in the face and her hands and legs were tied, Ngoepe said. The robbers fled on foot. The victims were admitted to a local hospital where they were reportedly in stable conditions. No arrests had yet been made. Source... http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1458792,00.html--- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 15/12/2003

Farmer slams police 'inaction' 09/12/2003 08:33 - (SA)Marietie Louw Pretoria - A farmer had to answer questions about his car's registration number on the 10111 police emergency line while armed men were trying to wrench open the windows and doors of his house. Marlon Treeby, 49, of Vastfontein near Hammanskraal outside Pretoria said he had lost all faith in the police. "I do not know why the police wanted my car's registration number while armed men were sneaking around my house." Treeby and his family were also the victims of a farm attack in 2001. A neighbour, Josias Kearney, was murdered in his house the same year. "Two weeks ago, two workers were shot in an attack on a nearby farm," Treeby said. His latest troubles with police started on Saturday morning about 01:00 when he heard a vehicle stop outside his gate. "I was watching television and my family was asleep when the vehicle stopped at the gate. Shortly after, I spotted three men outside the house." He said one o the men had an AK-47 assault rifle while the other two had handguns. Treeby first phoned Hammanskraal police, but gave up when nobody picked up the phone after several minutes. "I phoned 10111. By that time, the men had heard me and were pulling on the doors and windows." He said the operator asked him what his car's registration number was. "I eventually put the phone down in exasperation." Treeby then phoned Sinoville police who "somehow" managed to contact Hammanskraal police. Meanwhile, the armed men had left. About an hour later, two members of Hammanskraal police arrived at Treeby's house. "They looked around for a while and said they would search for the men in the area." Treeby said he phoned Hammanskraal police on Saturday afternoon to find out whether the men had been found. "Nobody knew what I was talking about. The incident was never reported." Meanwhile, an unknown man phoned Treeby on Sunday and Monday, laughing and then putting the phone down. "I phoned the Hammanskraal police to report the calls. The commander said he would send somebody. I am still waiting." Captain Piletji Sebola said Treeby's complaints would be investigated. Source... http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1456649,00.html--- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 08/12/2003 20031205: Boet Fourie & Joel Ntombela escape unharmed... http://groups.msn.com/crimebustersofsouthafrica/farmattacks.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=2216

Farmer shot dead during robbery December 08 2003 at 03:15AMBy Chris Jenkins Rural security has come under the spotlight again, after a brutal late night attack on a young couple on Brandon Hill farm on the outskirts of Empangeni and an armed robbery in the Eshowe area. Police said Deon Lourens, 33, and his wife, Amanda, 29, were about to go to bed on Saturday night after having over friends for a braai when two armed men burst into the house and held them up. Eshowe police spokesperson Jay Naicker said the men robbed them of cash, cellphones and other belongings as well as the keys to their car. Unable to get the car going, they ordered Mrs Lourens to drive it. A struggle broke out between the suspects and Mr Lourens and he was shot four times. The attackers ran away. The seriously injured Lourens was taken to Empangeni's Garden Clinic where he died a few hours later, Naicker said. On Friday, farmer Boet Fourie, 65, and an employee, Joel Ntombela, 31, escaped unharmed when five men held them up on Buren Farm, at Nkwalini. The robbers fired shots through a window in a room where Pat Reddy was counting money and took a "substantial" amount of cash. They drove off in Fourie's vehicle, taking the farmer and Ntombela with them. The assailants abandoned the vehicle at Heatonville, near Empangeni, and ran off. A man was later arrested. On Saturday night, two police sergeants attending to a complaint of an attack on a homstead at Nkonjane reserve near Mtunzini came under fire. Sgt Bernard Nyuswa, 35, was wounded in the shoulder. Three suspects were arrested and police are still searching for a fourth man.Source... http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=15&art_id=vn20031208031535507C700350&set_id=1--- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 05/12/2003 http://groups.msn.com/crimebustersofsouthafrica/farmattacks.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=1313

Farm attackers get life + 50 04/12/2003 19:12 - (SA) Riot Hlatshwayo Polokwane - Two farm attackers were handed down life sentences in the Circuit Court here on Thursday. Erick Hasani Nukeri, 42, and Thomas Mbhalati, 20, were also sentenced to an additional 50 years in jail each for killing Johan and Christiana van Dyk of Soetdoring farm two days before Christmas last year. The Van Dyks, both aged 58, were repeatedly stabbed to death and the killers then ransacked the house and loaded the goods on to the couple's bakkie and sped off. The bakkie was later found abandoned a few kilometres away and police soon arrested the two men. They were sentenced to 50 years' each for housebreaking, and a life sentence for murder. Meanwhile, another Limpopo man was handed a life sentence in Pretoria High Court on Monday for chopping his 10-year-old sister to pieces at their home in Violet Bank in Bushbuckridge in April 2001. Michael Lodrick Mogane, 26, stuffed the little girl's body parts into a metal trunk. Police, acting on a tip-off, caught him as he left his house with the trunk. Provincial police commissioner Calvin Sengane welcomed the sentences. "We welcome the sentences and hope they send a clear message to criminals that we are not going to rest until they are arrested and sentenced to long terms." Source... http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1455019,00.html--- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 05/12/2003 http://groups.msn.com/CRIMEBUSTERSofSouthAfrica/farmattacks.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=2211

200212??: Leonardus Ruiters pf THE NETHERLANDS murdered... [This farm murder had previously gone unreported and only came to light recently because of the court case reported below] Paroled - so killer goes back to finish job December 05 2003 at 09:59AM By Karyn Maughan After being robbed and assaulted at knifepoint on his farm three years ago, Leonardus Ruiters was terrified his attackers would return to kill him. The retired 66-year-old obsessively called police to make sure his assailants were still behind bars. But last December his worst nightmare came true, when the former employee who had attacked him returned to the remote Napier farm two months after being released on parole. Pieter Swanepoel broke into the civil engineer's home, tied him up, stabbed him and beat him in an attack that shocked even hardened police officers. Ruiters died of a cerebral haemorrhage. 'The retired 66-year-old obsessively called police' In the Cape High Court this week, Judge Bernie Griessel convicted Swanepoel of murder and robbery, jailing him for life for the murder plus 25 years for the theft of Ruiters's belongings. According to Emmarentia Riek, a friend who discovered Ruiters's body, Ruiters had been "terrified" of Swanepoel and his other previous assailant and would "never" have considered returning to the farm if he had known that either had been released. Before Swanepoel and his other former assailant were imprisoned, Riek said Ruiters was afraid to sleep alone at his farm, Tuinplaas - 13km outside Napier - and frequently travelled into Bredasdorp to spend the night in a boarding house. "He was absolutely paranoid about his safety after the first attack. He said it was the most humiliating and frightening thing, having to beg for your life with a knife to your throat." Riek said she was haunted by the sight of Ruiters's body, which she discovered after becoming concerned when he did not answer her increasingly worried phone calls. "It's something that I will never forget." 'Would never have considered returning to the farm' Ruiters, from the Netherlands, had returned to South Africa a few weeks before he was killed. A traveller with a house boat in Turkey and a love for open spaces, he would usually spend three months a year in the country. Riek said Ruiters had always been "very happy" on his farm. During the trial, it emerged that Swanepoel had twice made inquiries about when Ruiters would be on the farm the week before the murder. He had also taken a knife and a change of clothes with him to the scene. The court found that revenge was the primary motive behind the killing and that the murder had been premeditated. Speaking to the Cape Argus on Thursday, Riek said Ruiters's adult daughter, Andrée, and son, Yvo, had initially refused to travel to South Africa after their father's death, fearing for their own safety. "They were very upset about what happened, particularly after the first incident. I think they felt their father should have been more cautious and not have returned to South Africa. "I think they felt like the country betrayed both him and them." Riek said it was "ironic" that on the week that he was murdered, Ruiters had planned to visit Mozambique. "Everyone told him it was too dangerous, so he didn't go. "My greatest sadness is that he died exactly the way he didn't want to. He died the way he had always feared." Source... http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=15&art_id=vn20031205095946878C819687&set_id=1--- * Posted to CBSA Message Board ??/??/2003 http://groups.msn.com/crimebustersofsouthafrica/farmattacks.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=2189

Farmer, 75, stabbed to death 03/12/2003 18:35 - (SA)Riot Hlatshwayo Middelburg - Mpumalanga police are struggling to trace the family of a elderly farmer whose body was found with multiple stab wounds. Farm workers at the Tweefontein farm in Middelburg discovered the fully clothed 75-year-old farmer in "massive" pool of blood on his bed on Tuesday morning. Police confirm there appeared to have been a violent struggle, but nothing seemed to have been stolen. "The worried workers went looking for the man when he failed to appear to brief them for work. They eventually searched through the house, and discovered his bloodied body at 08:00," said Highveld police spokesperson, Captain Malcolm Mokomene on Wednesday. "We're at this stage still uncertain what the motive for the murder was, and are also struggling to trace his family." Police have meanwhile detained a 19-year-old suspect for questioning in connection with the murder. Farm attacks Mokomene stressed that police had succeeded in curbing farm attacks in Mpumalanga, but remained concerned at apparent weak communication systems in rural areas. "Farmers invariably stay in isolated areas, so it is very important to have good communication systems in place. Farmers also need set up systems they can use to call for help in a hurry, and that will check in on them if they fail to communication for any period," said Mokomene "We've got to be proactive about this to save lives."

Show-jumping champ assaulted 30/11/2003 22:19 - (SA)Vera Schoeman East London - A well-known cattle farmer has been charged with the attempted murder of a deaf 11-year-old South African champion show jumper. It is claimed the farmer knocked the boy from his horse, tried to strangle him and then made him run home in front of his bakkie. Police arrested Rodney Langheim shortly afterwards. He was released on R300 bail. A source, who did not want to be named, said Michael Swartz took his horse on November 13 to ride to the neighbouring farm to look at a new litter of puppies. As he was riding home later that afternoon, it is claimed the farmer drove up to him in the bakkie, got out and slapped the boy so hard in the face that he fell from the horse. The boy was apparently kicked several times and sworn at until he wet himself. It is claimed he was forced to run about a kilometre home, being chased by the man in the bakkie. Michael's mother, Sandy, was at home when he stormed into the house. "He was ashen faced and shook like a leaf," she said. She said there were red marks on his neck and his pants were still wet. He explained to her in sign language what had happened. She took him to a doctor for a medical examination and reported the case to the police. She said a farm worker told her he saw Michael being chased by the bakkie. Mrs Swartz said: "Michael has changed a lot since that day. He is unsure of himself, cries a lot and is not happy at all." Michael was born deaf and had a muscular problem as a child. He hated physiotherapy and his parents put him on a horse's back when he was eight months old to strengthen his muscles. Since then he has become an excellent horseman and has won several show jumping titles, including the South African championships.

20030115 - Piet Hattingh, 82, farm murder - this was censored- We also have no previous mention of this atrocious farm murder of a defenceless old man in our records. This court case thus proves once again the effectiveness of the SA regime's ongoing suppression of the news -especially its outright censorship of any news reports regarding the farm attack epidemic. Only when this case finally got to court, did it get into the newspapers.

We'll shoot your daughter, threaten gunmen November 24 2003 at 03:48PM A 24-year-old woman was injured during an attack on her farm Palmietkuil near Kroonstad by two unidentified gunmen on Monday morning, Northern Free State police reported. Captain Rosa Benade said Esta Rohlandt was cutting flowers from her garden when she noticed a vehicle approaching her farm. When she returned to her house, two men were standing at the front door. They assaulted her and demanded the keys to the safe and firearm safe. Benade said the suspects threatened to shoot her two-year-old daughter if she refused to co-operate with them. The robbers stole cash, jewellery and ammunition before hitting the victim over the head and fleeing in their vehicle. Rohlandt suffered a concussion to her head and facial injuries. She was admitted to a local clinic in a stable condition. No arrests have yet been made. No shots were fired and no one else was injured. Source... http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=15&art_id=qw1069681681367B265&set_id=1--- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 25/11/2003 http://groups.msn.com/crimebustersofsouthafrica/farmattacks.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=2164

Nov 24 2003 - 18:51pm - LEPHALALE, LIMPOPO - Sapa reports that the life of an unnamed elderly farmer's wife was worth only R9 (ninety dollar cents_ to two men who attacked her with an axe and a pipe - that was all they got before they fled. Captain Malesela Ledwaba said two men attacked the woman around 5pm. Her 75-year-old husband injured by the intruders on their farm in the Lephalale area near Polokwane on Sunday. They demanded a cellphone and cash before battering her to death: she died on the scene of head injuries. The victim's husband arrived later and was also attacked but was saved by his dogs. He was taken to the Polokwane regional hospital for treatment. The police were alerted about the incident and arrested two men. Ledwaba said the two alleged farm murderers would appear in the Lephalale magistrate's court on Wednesday. - Sapa

Nov 7 2003 - PRETORIA - "Here is skelms in the house." With those words nine-year old Anje Claassen (9) of Kameeldrift smallholdings near Pretoria tried to alert police to an attack being carried out against their family yesterday.Her mom and grandparents were being threatened at gunpoint by a large group of young, armed African males. Read entire story on:

November 8 2003 - In the third farm attack in the Eastern Free State within two days, an infirm 87-year old woman was murdered most gruesomely and possibly raped.

Die Volksblad reports that the previous two female victims had barely survived similar armed attacks and are still in intensive care in Free State Hospitals. However the third victim, also found covered in horrible slash marks, had succumbed to her terrifying injuries police report.

Two women attacked in cruel attacks, Free State Nov 6, 2003 - BLOEMFONTEIN, Volksblad. In two cruel farm attacks in the Eastern Free State yesterday, a Ladybrand woman was stabbed numerous times by an attacker with a knife, and a farm wife of Clocolan also suffered serious injuries when attacked at home -- she was repeatedly beaten over the head with a steel bar.

One victim, Mrs. Christine Feingold , was rushed to Bloemfontein by Ambulance Air Africa for emergency care at Bloemfontein-Medi-Clinic.

Dr. Rupert Siecker of Bethlehem and a paramedic accompanied the mercy flight.

Bothaville - Northern Free State police have issued a reward of R20 000 for anyone with information leading to the arrest of the killers following the murder of a Bothaville farmer and an attack on a second farmer on Saturday on a rural road.

Gerhard van den Berg, 44, from the farm Klippan near Bothaville was shot and killed while trying to help fellow farmer Leonard Scholtz following an attack on him. Superintendent Annelie van der Bank said 32-year-old Scholtz was held at gunpoint by two armed men when he arrived at a filling station.

Scholtz was forced back into his bakkie and ordered to drive the gunmen away. Farmer Leonard Scholtz, told to run, was shot: Van der Bank said the farmer was told to drive a few kilometres away where they met up with four gunmen in a car. Scholtz was locked in the boot of the car and driven away. She said the farmer was released after a short while and commanded to run away.

He was then shot - but when the bullets hit his foot, he pretended to be dead. Van den Berg, who was driving home, witnessed the incident. She said that as Van den Berg got out of his bakkie to help Scholtz, he was shot dead. He died instantly.

The attackers fled in their vehicles and Van Rensburg's bakkie. No arrests had yet been made.

Bothaville - Northern Free State police have issued a reward of R20 000 for anyone with information leading to the arrest of the killers following the murder of a Bothaville farmer and an attack on a second farmer on Saturday.

Gerhard van Rensburg, 44, from the farm Klippan near Bothaville was shot and killed while trying to help Leonard Scholtz following an attack on him.

Superintendent Annelie van der Bank said 32-year-old Scholtz was held at gunpoint by two armed men when he arrived at a filling station.

Scholtz was forced back into his bakkie and ordered to drive the gunmen away.

Van der Bank said the farmer was told to drive a few kilometres away where they met up with four gunmen in a car.

Scholtz was locked in the boot of the car and driven away.

She said the farmer was released after a short while and commanded to run away. He was then shot in the foot, and pretended to be dead.

Van Rensburg, who was driving home, witnessed the incident.

She said that as van Rensburg got out of his bakkie to help Scholtz, he was shot. He died instantly.

Constable Christopher Mophiring said two unknown men arrived on the farm of Koos Terblanche, 52, around noon.They tied him up with an electric wire.They slashed his throat, left him in a pool of blood dumped in the bath tub, and fled on foot. A domestic worker phoned the police. No arrests had been made. Police asked anyone with information about the murder to contact them on 086-001-0111. - Sapa

September 28, 2003 - Mrs Hannie Burger, 59, of the farm Doringdrift at Vredendal, is in a coma at Tygerberg Hospital in Parow after her skull was crushed when she and her husband were overpowered and beaten senseless in their farm shop on Saturday-night by a militia group. The attackers bludgeoned the middle-aged Afrikaner couple until they lost consciousness. Mrs Burger had still not regained consciousness by Monday-morning. The couple's son, André Burger, said it wasn't clear yet what exactly had happened, but his father phoned a neighbour at about 22:00 for help. "It seems as if the attack happened quite a while before this. A doctor, who treated the couple in Vredendal, said they were already physically cold when he reached and revived them. "This is an indication that they had been unconscious for quite a while." He said his mother's skull was crushed on the right side and, although she still could not speak and remained comatose, doctors said she reacted to injections and touch. He added that the motive for the attack was not clear at this stage, but that his father had banned a violent employee from the farm recently and that the attack could have been in retaliation. "When my father fired him a while ago, the man said he would not leave the matter there and would return." Nobody has been arrested in connection with the attack.

September 28, 2003, 06:40 AM - Farmers in Limpopo Province will decide today on improved security measures on farms after the latest farm murder. Piet de Jager (69) was yesterday shot dead on his farm, Laatgevonden, in the Levubu area. His wife and son escaped unhurt.

Police are searching for De Jager's five attackers who gunned him down at the farm gate and had robbed nothing at all. Levubu Community Policing Forum Chair Anton Weyers says the farming community is greatly concerned.

"Limpopo farmer Piet de Jager was executed for criticising land reform" -- claim

29/09/2003 08:35 - Levubu, Limpopo - "They didn't even take my father's watch from his arm or the credit card from his pocket", says Herman de Jager, the son of murdered Piet de Jager, 69, an Afrikaner community leader and farmer in the area. De Jager sen (pictured), owner of Laatsgevonden farm, was shot dead on Saturday morning about 400m from his home when he went to switch off a water pump. Five armed men apparently attacked him and fired shots. They ran towards the farmhouse afterwards. De Jager jun says his badly wounded dad stumbled towards the house while shouting at his wife, Lenie, 60, to lock herself and two of their grandchildren, who were visiting, inside. She ran into the house and locked the security gate. The attackers pushed and pulled with all their might. In the meantime, Mrs de Jager contacted their neighbours and her son, who lives about 2km from his parents and begged for help. They arrived a few minutes later, but the attackers had fled. De Jager jun says the attack was carried out with military precision. "It must have been planned weeks before", he said. His father died from two shots to the head and one in the chest. The attack on De Jagers was the sixth in the area this year, but De Jager is the first to have died. Residents in the area believe the attacks are linked to various land claims from the Landless People's Campaign. In a recent edition of the top Afrikaans agricultural magazine Landbouweekblad, De Jager had expressed strong criticism about these land claims, questioning their agricultural viability because so many of the government's smallholding reform projects are failing. http://www.landbou.com/LandbouWeekblad/Grond/Home/0,,,00.htmlIn an emotional memorial service in the Levubu Dutch Reformed church, Dominee Petrus Kriel implored the congregation not to take the law into their own hands and become criminals. "Brother Piet's murder was in all probability an execution." "The Lord saw what had occurred and we don't have to get up to do something ourselves, because He will bring an end to the anarchy", he said.

20030927 - Unnamed Levubu farmer shot dead near Makhado (Louis Trichardt) - nothing stolen Limpopo Province, South Africa - A 69-year-old farmer was gunned down by a five-men militia at the front gate of his farm in Levubu near Makhado on Saturday, Limpopo police said. Captain Ailwei Mushavhanamadi said the unnamed victim died instantly. The men left on foot, Mushavhanamadi said. The motive for the murder was unknown as nothing was stolen. No arrests have been been made. Nothing was stolen from the farm. Background on Louis Trichardt/Makhado The first Boer who arrived in this region was Coenraad Buys, the famous explorer, who made contact with a local Venda tribe in 1832. This independent,multilingual Boer explorer also was a man with an impressively large physique well exceeding 2 metres tall. He had also married into many tribes and founded new dynasties during his explorations of the African interior. If he could be found, he was often used in negotiations between Voortrekkers and local tribal chiefs, according to his contemporaries. He travelled widely in the interior and never settled permanently. One night he walked away from the camp fire of one of his many family groups and was never heard of again. In 1836 the Voortrekker leader Louis Trichardt set up his large family- and cattle compound here in mud-and-adobe 'field houses' while he and other Voortrekkers scouted present-day Zimbabwe and travelled eastward toward Mocambique. His original diary records seeing the great Zimbabwean waterfallsduring this time. In 1847 another Voortrekker group arrived under the leadership of the fiercely independent Hendrik Potgieter and established a town here -- first building a church -- called Zoutpansbergdorp. In 1852 the equally independent Boer leader Stephanus Schoeman became the leader of the town, and it was hence called Schoemansdal. In 1867 the town was largely destroyed by the Venda people in a massacre, but rebuilt again. In 1898 -- as part of the independent Transvaal Boer Republic (Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek van Transvaal, (ZAR) it was renamed to Louis Trichardt. In 2002 the town was unilaterally renamed Makhado by the current ANC-government. http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1422339,00.html

* Posted to CBSA Message Board ??/08/2003

Mystery shrouds farmer killing 30/09/2003 08:29 - (SA)

Levubu - Limpopo MEC for safety and security Dikeledi Magadzi says it's possible the person who planned the murder of farmer Piet de Jager had been at a meeting on crime in the area.

The farmer's son, Herman, said after the attack: "They didn't even take my father's watch from his arm or the credit card from his pocket."

De Jager sen, owner of Laatsgevonden farm, was shot dead on Saturday morning about 400m from his home when he went to switch off a water pump.

At the anhti-crime meeting, the day before the murder of De Jager, 65, plans had been discussed to put a stop to the crime wave in the area.

Magadzi ws speaking at an emergency meeting attended by the police, community leaders and the community policing forum.

Magadzi says she shudders when she thinks of the possibility, but it's possible that the person wanted to prove a point.

De Jager was killed close to his house on Saturday morning by a group of attackers, who didn't steal anything.

Assistant commissioner Charles van Wyk announced on Monday afternoon that a R50 000 award would be given for information that could led to the arrest and conviction of the attackers.

Policing forum head Anton Weyers said he and three other people who started the forum to tackle the crime situation in Levubu, had been attacked, hijacked and robbed several times.

Magadzi was told of several complaints and she also heard suggestions on how to combat crime. She promised to give urgent attention to the matter.

Reservists being called in

Some of the complaints included poor service at the Levubu charge office. Magadzi said poor service to the community was unacceptable.

Reservists are to be called up as soon as possible and members of the crime prevention unit in Thohoyandou will be deployed in the area for the next two weeks.

The community gave its support and co-operation to the police and had already implemented a plan to safeguard specific areas.

Senior superintendent Ronnie van Niekerk of the area head office in Thohoyandou earlier acknowledged there were problems in the Levubu charge office and said the matter was receiving the highest priority.

De Jager will be buried from the Dutch Reformed Moederkerk in Makhado on Thursday.

Boer Farmers Die at Twice the Rate of US Soldiers in Iraq Open Letter to President Bush and President Mbeki: September 18, 2003 is black Thursday for US forces in Iraq after 3 soldiers died in an ambush. Since May 1, 2003 when the US entered the guerrilla stage of the war a total of 76 soldiers have been killed in hostile activities. Do your calculations on a total of 150,000 American troops in Iraq over the 4 month and 18 day period and you will see that the average monthly fatality rate of US soldiers embroiled in guerrilla war is 11.04 for every 100,000 soldiers. That is on average 11.04 American soldier fatalities per month per 100,000 soldiers. The 1,590 murdered Boer farmers since 1991 of a total of 50,000 remaining Boer farmers represent on average 20.84 fatalities per month per 100,000 population. Despite black Thursday for US soldiers, Boer farmers have suffered every month for over a decade a fatality rate that is 88.8 percent higher than that of the average monthly fatality rate of US forces in Iraq. Boer farmers in South Africa are killed at almost twice the rate of US soldiers who are at war in Iraq. Now I ask you President Bush and President Mbeki: Who is really at war? Yours sincerely, George Bakker

From: GeorgeBakker

Please note the following sources for numbers used on this thread in calculations of US soldiers killed in attacks:

Source 1: ABCNewsOnline: http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s949084.htmLast Update: Friday, September 19, 2003. 8:47am (AEST) Three US soldiers confirmed killed in ambush "The deaths brought to 76 the number of US soldiers killed in action in Iraq - seven in the past week - since US President George W Bush declared major action over on May 1."

Source 2: Wahington Post Washingtonpost.com U.S. Convoy Attacked in Iraq Reuters Thursday, September 18, 2003; 11:34 AM "Guerrilla attacks, mainly in Baghdad and the surrounding Sunni Muslim heartland where support for Saddam Hussein is still strong, have killed 73 U.S. soldiers since Washington declared major combat over on May 1."

In view of the above it may be appropriate to qualify an earlier statement by inclusion of the words "in attacks" as follows: Boer farmers would be only half as likely to be killed in attacks if they joined the US army in Iraq rather than farm in South Africa. Opinions are invited. George Bakker

Nelspruit - The manager of a farm near Pilgrim's Rest in Mpumalanga was shot dead in front of his wife early on Saturday morning, a police spokesperson reported. Captain Mary Gama said Stan Herbst, 40, who managed the farm Balla, was shot by attackers who got in through an open window. Herbst and his wife Susan were apparently in the bedroom of their home when they were confronted by two armed men. The men did not attempt to steal anything but immediately began shooting. Initial news reports from SAPA that Mrs Herbst had apparently shot back and killed one of the men were apparently erroneously reported as such by the police. It was found after investigation of forensic evidence -- it now appears that a shot fired by mr Herbst as he was gunned down, had also killed an attacker. Gama said the other attacker got away and was still at large. Susan Herbst was not physically injured. Nothing was robbed. Police recovered both firearms used in the incident.

Source: SAP, Lowveld Region, Captain Mary Gama, Mpumalanga.

20030920 - Farmer and attacker shot dead at Pilgrim's Rest farm; farm wife kills an attacker after two gunmen shoot dead her husband while they were having tea... See SABC-TV video clip here: http://www.sabcnews.com/video_ram/0,1573,24076,00.ramSeptember 20, 2003, 05:38 PM - A 40-year-old (unnamed) farmer has been shot dead by two gunmen on the farm Bala at Pilgrim's Rest in Mpumalanga. Thabisile Gama of the Lowveld Police says the farmer and his wife had returned early on Saturday morning from hunting. While they were drinking tea two armed African men had climbed into the homestead through the bathroom window and had once inside the homestead, immediately shot the farmer in the chest, killing him instantly. The farm wife then picked up a gun and fired three shots at the attackers -- killing one of them. The other man managed to escape -- and there might have been more armed military who had participated in the attack but had remained outside the homestead, local residents tell the Censorbugbears. Nothing was robbed. It is totally unclear why the men would have wanted to enter the house while the farmer and his wife were inside. http://www.sabcnews.com/south_africa/crime1justice/0,2172,66132,00.html

Sept 19, 2003 - SA farmer Flippie Buys, who was shot in the back and killed by three armed attackers in Midlands, KZN this week while enroute with his workers, died exactly seven years after the farm murder of his oldest son Flippie junior -- who had also died during a farm attack on September 3, 1996.

20030917 - Philip Buys, KZN farmer - shot dead - attackers cursed him as "white man" before shooting him in the back September 17, 2003 - According to various reports a large group of male African men had shouted racist epitaphs and had also referred to a murdered KwaZulu-Natal farmer as a "white man" before shooting him in the back on September 17, 2003. Philip Buys died on the scene and apparently nothing was stolen.

We are still awaiting family- and police confirmation, although numerous reports are being submitted from area residents.

20030913 - Killed: Kleinboy Vuma, Patrick Mabaza, farm workers, Steynsburg, FS Alleged berserker farm worker arrested with R4 assault rifle Sept 17, 2003 17/09/2003 12:27 -Steynsburg, FS - A farm worker suspected of having killed two fellow workers and wounded two others on a farm near here has been arrested. The farm worker had gone on his killing spree after he broke into a farm house on Sunday and stolen an R-4 assault rifle and a camouflage uniform. A camouflage uniform, R4-assault rifle and ammunition were found in possession of the arrested man, who is suspected of having killed farm workers Kleinboy Vuma, 60, and Patrick Mabaza, 58 and injuring Daisy Vuma, 36, as well as a neighbouring farmer, Charles Viljoen, 49. Captain Erris Claassen said the 27-year-old man, was wearing a camouflage uniform when arrested in Steynsburg early on Wednesday after police received a tip-off. Nothing had been robbed and the motive for the murders therefore remains murky.

Gunman sows terror on Karoo farms around Steynsburg Two-hour shooting spree with R4 military assault rifle leaves two dead A small Karoo town is picking up the pieces after a berserker gunman went on a wild killing spree on area farms this week. After shooting three members of one family, he went door to door on each farm, firing about 100 shots at fleeing people and, driving a stolen car, even chased a woman carrying a baby. Two people died. Finally, the man unleashed a spray of automatic fire at the town's top policeman, before calmly marching into the hills - leaving surviving farm workers so terrified that they slept in the local police station until the killings came an end. This nightmare gripped the Karoo town of Steynsburg this week. A manhunt for the gunman involved two dozen police, 30 commando members and two police helicopters. The drama began on a farm owned by Wicus Bekker - the newly appointed coach of the Springbok combat shooting team - late on Saturday night last week. A local farm worker, Ngaziwa "Tinini" Mbodi, 27, has now been captured as the suspected shooter, and was remanded at the Steynsburg Magistrate's Court on Friday in connection with the shootings. http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/2003/09/21/news/news13.asp

20030913 - Fred Naude, 65, physically-disabled farmer, Cullinan -- tortured, beaten to a pulp before execution at point-blank range September 17, 2003 - The Transvaal Agricultural Union 's Louis Meintjies (telephone 082-461-7262) has issued the following statement about the death of physically-disabled farmer Fred Naude, who was cruelly tortured -- attempts were made to pull out his nails, and his face was beaten to a pulp before he was cold executed and point-blank range by his attackers last Friday. Mr Naude's murder has now created a local backlash: residents have decided to boycot paying any rates or taxes as long as the State does not provide effective policing. "Farmers are tortured while SA Police Service holds meetings"

STATEMENT BY TRANSVAAL AGRICULTURAL UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA On Friday-night, 65-year old Fred Naude was murdered and only found Monday-morning.

The SA Police Department issued a brief statement which merely says that Mr Naude had been murdered and had been shot from "up close". This is just one of many such murders in the Cullinan district. What the SA Police Department statement had censored from its fact sheet however, had been the following: Mr Naude was physically disabled. He was beaten so badly in the face that he became unrecognisable to his friends. He was cruelly tortured and attempts were made to pull out his nails. His hands were tied behind his back. He was shot dead with a firearm which had been held right against his chest. The SA Police department did not say that this torture and execution of a defenceless, physically-disabled old farmer would now change their current opinion that farm attackers are merely "ordinary robberies". The SA Police department was also noted as having carried out the following forensic examination of the crime scene: The local detective branch had handled the (first-response of) the case well SA police Inspector Setole of the Murder and Robbery Squad did not however have the time to take fingerprints from the lock of the farm gate. The police only became aware of clear signs that a struggle had taken place after these signs had been pointed out to them by members of the local agricultural union who were present. The balaclava which had been discarded at the scene and which could have provided DNA-samples for forensic evidence which could lead to a conviction of the torturer-murderers, was merely tossed aside by the police investigators. On July 17 2003, in the programme Focus senior police superintendent Mokholwane and Tlomatsana were interviewed after three murders in the Cullinan District -- and then they promised that "there would be attention paid within a month to the logistical policing problems, such as shortages of personnel and vehicles." Needless to say, nothing has been received - and it is now months later -- and in fact, the opposite occurred: even more police vehicles were taken away. Rates and taxes boycot At a public community meeting on 17 August, certain demands were made to police commander Mashigo -- and he was advised that the local community would boycot payment of all rates and taxes in protest at the SA Police department's inability to look after the safety of the rural community here. The Transvaal Agricultural Union of South Africa now alsoadvises him formally that all these formal "community policing forums" will be boycotted by the community until the police declare their bonafides and start actively doing something about the dire logistical shortages and other problems hampering effective policing operations. The only thing the SA police department does now is to organise meetings and explain how their various community forums are set up. The Naude murder therefore is yet another preventable murder to which the SA Police Department has contributed and must bear co-responsibility.

The TAUSA is not interested in merely talking about crime at community policing forums any longer. We will therefore stick to our original viewpoint -- namely that we will do it ourselves.

In the last three weeks the Union has noticed an upsurge in assaults, forced evictions, demands and threats by settlers with no respect towards court rulings and settlement offers by consent made in favour of its members.

The latest assault and eviction of a Harare South farmer and his family over the weekend of 9th August 2003 by a settler and the assault of a farmer and his wife on Friday 15th August 2003 in Chiredzi by a group of settlers on the rampage is of concern to the Union. These incidents are strongly condemned.

The Commercial Farmers Union once again calls on the respective authorities and in particular the Zimbabwe Republic Police to bring an end to these acts of violence and to ensure the safety of all its citizens.

21/08/2003 14:47 Welkom - Free State police arrested a man in connection with the shooting and robbery of a Bultfontein farmer, police said on Thursday. Inspector Stephen Thakeng said Kobus Nel, 31, was seriously injured when he was shot in the face, stomach and a leg on Thursday.

He had returned to his farm Sardania aroundnoontime when he was shot three times by two men. Thakeng said the armed attackers loaded goods into Nel's Toyota Land Cruiser and drove off. The alerted police spotted the vehicle on the Hoopstad road. Thakeng said when the robbers saw they were being chased they abandoned the vehicle near the Phahaneng township and ran into the bush. One was arrested and the farmer's goods identified inside the vehicle. Thakeng said the second man escaped and a reward of R20 000 was being offered for information leading to his arrest and conviction. Nel was in serious condition in the Rosepark Hospital in Bloemfontein.

Bloemfontein - A 67-year-old farmer and his 66-year-old wife were attacked on their farm in the southern Free State on Friday and robbed of two revolvers and a pistol. Police spokespwoman Elsa Gerber said the couple, who did not want to be named, had returned to their farm in the Verkeerdevlei district at about 23:00 and noticed a broken flower pot at the front door.

The farmer, realising intruders might have gained entry, drew his revolver but was suddenly overpowered by three men carrying knives.

Gerber said the elderly man and woman were traumatised but otherwise injured. they were forced into the house and tied up in the bathroom before the attackers took the keys of the safe and removed a revolver and a 9mm pistol.

The couple managed to free themselves and went for help after the attackers had escaped in the farmer's car -- which was found abandoned next to the highway shortly thereafter. No arrests were made.

Pietermaritzburg - A Weenen farmer was shot several times on Monday morning as he went to open his dairy.

Farm manager Lorimar Tarr said the owner of Sonop Dairies, Sarel van Dyk, 52, was confronted by five armed men in the milking area at 04:45. They shot him in the chest, stomach, ankle, groin and upper body.

"I live right next door and I heard the shots, but by the time I got to Sarel, there was no one around," said Tarr. "He was bleeding profusely. I put him on the bakkie and took him to a doctor, who stabilised him, He was transferred to Medi-Clinic, where he is in a serious but stable condition."

"This was a vindictive attack," claimed Tarr. "A year ago we were threatened by some of local unemployed people. Four weeks ago we were threatened again. Both times we impounded their cattle because they had trespassed onto our farm. We took the cattle to the Weenen pound."

He also said two farm labourers were confronted by the attackers and told to keep quiet. A passer-by was tied up by the attackers.

"After the shooting the attackers left on foot but got into a minibus a distance away and fled," said Tarr.

A neighbour, who did not want to be named, said Van Dyk wrestled with his attackers before being shot.

Police spokesperson Sergeant Sumay van Zyl said the motive for the attack was unknown. She said 9mm and 7.65mm cartrideges were found at the scene.

Kirk Kok of Volksblad in the Free State reports that one of the most gruesome farm murders ever recorded in the Eastern Freestate, the young Smith farm couple weere shot dead and torched inside their station wagon.

One man has been arrested and police are mounting a massive manhunt for the other attackers.

Neighbouring farmers came across the burning station wagon with the young couple inside yesterday.

Police said Mr Smith, 42, had two gun shots in the neck, his wife showed gun shot injuries in the chest. Captain Rose Benadé spokeswoman for the North-Cape police force said the motive for the double-murder is unclear as nothing appeared missing from their farm house. Mr Smith has lived on the farm Vadersdeel his entire life. His elderly widowed mother Hester lives in Heilbron. the couple had no children. http://www.news24.com/Die_Volksblad/Nuus/0,,5-83_1395324,00.html

July 30, 2003 - By Graeme Hosken, Pretoria News - A grandmother whose skull was cracked and whose vertebrae were smashed with a rock managed to stumble through more than 1km of bush in Cullinan, east of Pretoria, after her rapist left her for dead. The 57-year-old woman, who is in serious condition in the Pretoria East hospital, was cycling to her farm through Bynespoort on Saturday. Police are looking for an African man "dark in complexion with a round face and with a noticeable scar across one of his cheeks."

He said anyone with information could contact Crime Stop on 08600 10111 The scar-faced man had leapt from a clump of bushes and attacked the woman, who also is a tour guide in the region. Beating her to the ground, the man smashed her head with a rock before he kicked and beat her with sticks.

Holding her down on the ground the man repeatedly raped the woman before leaving her for dead. She regained consciousness and crawled for more than 1km through dense bush to a smallholding, where the owner found her collapsed in a field.

She was so badly beaten that the farmer, who is her neighbour, only recognised her after paramedics began to attend to her.

The woman, who is a tourist guide in the area, just managed to stay conscious long enough to give a detailed description of her attacker to police.

Speaking to the Pretoria News, a close family friend said the man responsible for the attack should be hanged. "That man is worse than an animal.

"Even death is too good for this pig who did this to my friend.

"I hope that he burns in hell and never sees the light of day again," said the friend. "Doctors have told us that the force of the rock cracked her skull and left her with a broken jaw and vertebrae. "It is still not known how much movement she will have," said the friend. Staff at the Pretoria East hospital said the woman had suffered multiple injuries, including severe lacerations and bruising to her body, both internally and externally. Man questioned, released by police: Police spokesman Captain Piletji Sebola said police had arrested a man believed to be the rapist a short while later. He claimed the man could not be linked to the attack and was released. It is not known if he was tested for DNA-evidence. "The docket is to be handed over to the Pretoria Family Violence and Child Protection Unit," said Sebola.

Police are looking for a man "dark in complexion with a round face and with a noticeable scar across one of his cheeks." He said anyone with information could contact Crime Stop on 08600 10111. http://www.pretorianews.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=270&fArticleId=198735Free State Farmer, 39, in court on sexual charges by TOM DE WET, Volksblad. -THEUNISSEN. - The trial of a Free State farmer for allegations of raping a 14-year-old girl will start on 15 August in Virginia, Free State.

Police say after investigating the allegations by the 14-year-old girl, they apparent discovered video tapes of an eighteen-year-old woman dressing and undressing in the farm's bathroom. Police also disclosed other important evidence to the news media in this case which should have been treated as sub-judice, since these facts would still have to be tested in the forthcoming trial. Releasing this information could prejudice this trial. The unnamed farmer was granted R2000 bail. The entire story, in Afrikaans, can be read on: http://www.news24.com/Die_Volksblad/Nuus/0,,5-83_1394715,00.htmlPretoria family attacked July 30, 2003 - Six armed men attacked a Pretoria businessman's family. Mesgare Khosrosani Seadi (37) was attacked as he drove into the driveway of his Waterkloof home on Monday night. Strangely, police described this in initial reports as a hijacking -- although the guard's car was taken as a getaway and was found abandoned -- with the stolen goods. In other words: it is not at all certain what the motive had been for this attack since the attackers had gained no profit from it other than assaulting and terrorising the family. The robbers, who forced Seadi inside his home, attacked his wife, 10-year-old son and his toddler, throwing all three to the floor as they charged into the house. A police spokesman said several of the men "ransacked the house while the others stood guard over the family, threatening to kill all of them if they raised the alarm."

July 25, 2003 -- Armed attacker Sandile Molefe, who had invaded a farm house and shot dead sleeping farmer Guy Ian Gardner, 28, in February last year, was jailed for life by the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday. Acting Judge Kobus Booyens who, with two assessors, convicted the killer (Sandile Molefe's had originally been given as 20 in the indictment, but he later claimed to be "only 18 now and 17 at the time of the murder") said courts often had to deal with "criminals of 17 to 20 years who show no respect for life and commit vicious crimes and then plead for mercy because of their youth.

"It is time that courts say they will be punished like adults if they behave like adult criminals.

"In this trial, the criminal showed maturity beyond his ( apparent) years and did not evince remorse," Booyens said. The angry, embittered mother of Gardner, Joan Wilcock, said the killer would still have a life of sorts in jail, but Guy's life had been cruelly obliterated.

She and her husband, Stuart Wilcock, are to return to New Zealand when they have completed tasks here. Booyens said the killer grew up in a economically struggling stable family in which violence was not prevalent - little different to the same situation of millions who grow up in poor circumstances but become useful citizens.

Booyens said the accused, who was probably the gang member who shot Gardner in his sleep, had shown no remorse, either to the probation officer, or during the trial.

Even the callous act of shooting dead a sleeping man did not deter him and his gang from going about the house, ransacking it, loading possessions onto the Wilcocks' truck and fleeing. The prevalence of these farm attacks needed the courts to protect the victims. Farms were often isolated and far from law enforcement agencies.

Attackers knew there was little chance of them being caught. Booyens also imposed a 15-year sentence for the aggravated robbery.

Prosecutor Advocate Rita Nel said the gang did not have to shoot Guy.

They could simply have locked him up in a toilet as they indeed had done with the domestic servant. Booyens congratulated SAPS Inspector Theo Holder and his team on the investigation which led to the conviction. He said there had been very few clues with which to start. http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=15&art_id=ct20030725232630143F6524673&set_id=1Source... --- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 22/07/2003 Farmworkers 'will fight back' 21/07/2003 08:36 - (SA)

Pietermaritzburg - White farmers who terrorise, mistreat and sometimes kill farmworkers in northern KwaZulu-Natal could face the wrath of a community army, the Landless People's Movement (LPM) threatened on Saturday.

This warning came during the funeral of Matshitshi Michael Nkosi, who was allegedly run over by Johan Landman in Utrecht two weeks ago.

LPM national organiser Mangaliso Kubheka said the organisation has launched a campaign to form a protective force that will stand up to "above-the-law white farmers who behave like they have a licence to kill farm residents".

Kubheka charged that farmers like Landman have security commandos, the black vigilante group Mapogo Amathamaga and the police to hide behind.

He said there have been many instances in the Utrecht district in which Landman, his father Theodore and brother Jakobus have been involved in incidents of assault and murder, but police have either refused to open cases against the farmers or the court has refused to prosecute, citing a lack of evidence.

Khubeka cited the cases of Mgodi Nkosi and Samuel Ndlovu, who both died after allegedly being assaulted by Theodore Landman.

After the funeral, the LPM and Association for Rural Advancement (Afra) led a march to Theodore Landman's farm.

Afra spokesperson Zamo Zwane said the protesters wanted to execute citizen's arrests on the Landmans.

Last month, the community staged a protest march in the area demanding the prosecution of the Landmans. This triggered the MEC for Agriculture, Dumisani Makhaye, to establish a task team to investigate allegations of the reign of terror by various farmers in Utrecht.

Theodore and Johan Landman will appear in court in Newcastle on Friday on a charge of attempted murder. On the same day Theodore and Jakobus will appear in court for assault.

Pietermaritzburg - Utrecht farmworkers have vowed to take the law into their own hands against the Landman family, whom they accuse of conducting a reign of terror for more than 20 years.

Police are investigating the death of farmworker Matshitshi Nkosi, allegedly run over by farmer Johan Landman, who has already appeared in court on charges of attempted murder and assault.

Nkosi was allegedly killed by Landman on Monday. Landman told police a cow strayed in front of his bakkie, forcing him to swerve and hit Nkosi, who was on a bicycle.

Nkosi was the brother-in-law of one of Landman's employees, Samuel Ndlovu, who died two weeks ago after allegedly being assaulted by Landman's father Theodore.

The Natal Witness reported last month that Theodore Landman, the owner of Zyhoek farm, and his son Jacobus Thomas Landman (26) are charged with the attempted murder of employee Isaac Fanyana Nkosi, a relative of Nkosi, on January 14, 2001.

Theodore and Johan Landman (28) are also charged with two counts of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm on Siphiwe Nkosi and Samuel Ndlovu in December 2001.

Last month, KZN Environmental Affairs and Agriculture MEC Dumisani Makhaye set up a task team to investigate allegations by the community that the Landmans operate a "reign of terror" ignored by the authorities. The community have opened 20 counts of intimidation and assault against Theodore Landman, but claim police and prosecutors refuse to prosecute.

Empangeni - The African National Congress in KwaZulu-Natal demanded an urgent probe on Monday into the death of six members of the Majola family who were killed at their Empangeni homestead at the weekend.

Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula should launch the probe, and top detectives from Pretoria should carry out the investigation, ANC provincial spokesperson Bheki Cele said.

He said police investigators should thoroughly probe why a local chief, iNkosi Zenzo Zungu, allegedly accompanied the police to raid the family homesteads searching for unlicensed guns two days before the murders.

Zungu is reportedly hostile to the ANC and he does not want its existence in his tribal territory, Cele said. The family lived in the KwaMadlebe area in Empangeni on the north coast.

Some members of the Majola family are active members of the ANC.

"The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal is outraged by the merciless and dastardly massacre of six members of Majola family," Cele said in a statement.

A group of gunmen burst into the home of the Majola family, including two children, in Empangeni on Saturday night, and opened fire on six family members.

The Majola family were asleep about 23:30 when the gunmen knocked on the door of their home in Mevamhlophe, said police spokesperson Captain Musa Khaba.

Muntungethuke Majola, 64, his daughters Sihle Majola, 22, and Sindisiwe Majola, 27, and his son Sipho Majola, 34 died in the shooting.

Sihle's son Qiniso Hlongwane, aged 18 months, and Themba Manyathi, 11, the son of Sindiswe, were also killed in the attack.

Both children were sleeping in their mothers' beds, Khaba said.

Busisiwe Majola, 63, the wife of Muntungethuke, was taken to hospital for treatment after suffering gunshot wounds. Nhlonipho, aged nine months and the son of Sihle, was not injured. The motive for the attack was not known.

"It is nothing to do with politics. At the moment it is criminal matter until we prove the contrary," Khaba said on Sunday. "We are busy with the investigation and several clues are being followed up."

Cele said the ANC has learnt that the gunmen murdered the Majola family "on the second day after Empangeni police allegedly raided their homestead on Thursday night (July 17)" searching for unlicensed firearms".

The elderly widow of one of the victims showed in the documentary on farm killings (Carte Blanche 29/6/03) has been attacked and raped on the farm last night. She was hospitalised and is undergoing trauma counselling. --- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 13/07/2003 Couple shot dead in robbery on smallholding July 12 2003 at 02:51PM

A retired police captain and his wife were found murdered on their smallholding in Cullinan, east of Pretoria on Friday night, police said on Saturday.

Captain Piletji Sebola said Captain Douw Gerbrand Grobler, 59, and his wife Frederika Jacoba, 57, were both shot in the head. They were found in their bedroom around 9pm.

Sebola said the gunmen allegedly gained access to the couple's home by breaking the a window. They shot the couple before ransacking the house.

They stole electrical appliances and all the goods were loaded into Frederika's car with which they drove off.

Sebola said Frederika died at the scene and her husband died before he could be airlifted to the hospital.

Their neighbour heard the gunshots and alerted the police. The police found the stolen vehicle loaded full of goods, abandoned about a kilometre away from the house.

He said Grobler was stationed at Cullinan police station before he retired in May.

Pretoria - Victims of farm attacks have formed a committee to collect complaints and horror photographs of these attacks to send to the human rights commission of the United Nations (UN) in Geneva, Switzerland.

Phillip du Toit, a lawyer from Pretoria, said the committee would "show the world" how farmers are treated in South Africa.

"The attacks on farmers are nothing but the violation of human rights. It is time that the UN's human rights commission investigate the matter."

Lita Fourie, founder of the Tabita support organisation for farm attacks, was one of the first to report a farm attack to the UN's human rights commission.

Her parents, John Cross, 77, and his wife, Bina, 76, were murdered on their farm in Limpopo three years ago.

"My parents' rights were terribly violated by the barbaric way in which they were murdered. We kept such cases from the world for too long," Fourie said.

She said victims of farm attacks should send in complete reports of the attacks.

Willie Lewies, chairperson of the Transvaal Agricultural Union's northern region, said earlier this week that the country's farmers were being wiped out.

"Farm attacks are ethnic cleansing. More than 1 400 farmers have already been murdered, it is genocide," he said.

The independent report on the causes of farm attacks could be released later in July.

A mother's hand on her daughter's coffin and a teenage boy crying out for his mom.

Overwhelmed by emotion, a family member faints at the graveside.

In just seven days South African farming communities have buried yet another three victims of murder.

Elsie Swart was killed shortly after her 50th birthday.

Elsie’s parents: 'I feel bitter, she was severely tortured.'

Burned with an electric iron, beaten and then strangled to death.

A day earlier 73-year old James Twine was buried in another rural town. He was shot dead in cold blood while kneeling down in front of his killers in his farmhouse.

'My heart is sore, he was a good man,' says Gilbert Sehoene, a farm worker who has lived on the farm since childhood.

Members of the South African Police Service are also struggling to deal with the senseless killings.

Anton Crawford (Supt. SAPS): “Most of these people are very old law abiding citizens, God fearing people murdered in cold blood. Sometimes I can see my own parents. My parents are also very old and I'm always glad it didn't happen to my parents.”

Superintendent Anton Crawford has been a forensic cop for 27 years, the last ten spent at the Criminal Record Centre in Witbank, about 100km east of Pretoria.

The cops here have long lost count of the murders they've attended on farms in this province. What awaits them on a call-out is usually a scene of indescribable brutality.

Like so many other victims, this elderly couple arrived back home from church on a Sunday morning. In a macabre display, the killers left their bibles displayed on the bodies. In an outside room a third member of the family was tied up with wire, then tortured and killed.

Scenes like these are difficult to forget and, to deal with the trauma, even the most hardened policemen often needs psychiatric counselling.

Anton (policeman): “Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't work. I normally get flashbacks every day … and nightmares. You always dream about most of the stuff, you always re-live it. It's like a video on rewind. It always comes back. I'm coping - not 100% but I'm surviving.”

Another day and yet another farm murder to solve.

This man was killed for a bit of cash says the Superintendent. And for little else, it seems.

But what goes through one's mind seeing brutality like this day after day?

Anton: “I would like to get this bastard. I would like to gather enough forensic evidence. I would like to take him to court because I want a successful conviction.”

But not all police are as dedicated.

Beatriz Freitas is the survivor of two farm attacks.

In neither case has anyone been brought to book.

Beatriz: “No, these things just died.”

The Freitas family emigrated from Madeira to South Africa more than 40 years ago. They established a huge nursery on farmland near the Mozambican border, supplying trees and plants to outlets across Southern Africa.

Beatriz still tends the beautiful garden, but the house is empty now.

Six years ago she arrived home after sunset and was overpowered as she parked her car.

Beatriz: “As I turned I just felt a hand on my neck, so when I looked there were four guys like this. So now you can't think. I wasn't scared. It's like my mind disappeared.”

Beatriz and her permanently disabled husband, José, were tied up in the bathroom while the intruders ransacked the house.

Beatriz: “Then after a while they got me out and they left my husband locked in there and they asked me where the iron was. I said, ‘It's in the laundry’. So off we go to the laundry and they started taking my clothes off, and that's where two of them raped me.”

But the rape was only the start of her nightmare.

Beatriz: “I happened to have two by 2 1/2 litres of oil and they took that and just poured it all over me. They connected the iron on the wall. All I remembered was lying there and screaming. It was a couple of kicks and a couple of irons. 25% of my body had third degree burns. Eventually they took a towel and they put it over my head and they were suffocating me and I ran out of breath. With my left hand I pulled one of their hands away and it was certainly not my strength - that's where I say there were higher powers in charge.”

The robbers then fled the scene.

Beatriz: “So I took a pair of shorts and a top and I just put it over this grease and I remember when I put the pants on there were all these pieces of skin hanging down. Still today, after so long, when I put pants on, you know, you have that feeling. I am a survivor - victims die. But with the Lord's strength I'm here.”

But three years later the couple was attacked for a second time. José died in a hail of bullets. Like the first time, no one was ever arrested.

Unsolved cases like these have forced many farmers to hire expensive private security companies. Some, like Mapogo Amatamaga, have an unconventional approach.

Hendrik Magongoanwe: “We give criminals medicine. Sjambok, we give them sjambok. They do no more crime.”

But for this farmer protection from a security company came too late.

Daan Landsberg was shot dead arriving home with his wife in broad daylight.

Members of the community arrested the suspects soon after, but within hours they escaped from the local police cells. It was then that the family turned to the security company who'd offered to track down the killers.

And it wasn't an empty promise. Later that same day they reported back with evidence and photographs of the fugitives. They even had this statement from a previous employee exposing the murder plot.

But why had the police not gone to this much trouble?

William Mnyongani: “That's the thing that worries me. What's taking place, because they got the information the same day when they finished killing this man.”

Criminologist, Prof. Neels Moolman, has published several papers on farm murders warning that South Africa's justice system is falling apart.

Prof Neels Moolman (University of the North): “I have indicated that a person has a 90% chance to follow a criminal career without fearing the consequences in South Africa. I've proved that statistically.”

Moolman is a member of a government appointed committee that recently completed a report on farm attacks.

This police video footage formed part of the evidence before them.

An old man's hand resting on the arm of his wife of many years. She was raped, police say, probably while he was forced to watch. Finally, with their throats slit, they died next to each other.

But despite the obvious brutality and violence of these attacks, South African officials insist that nothing sinister should be read into the ongoing killings.

Asst Comm. Johan Burger is in charge of rural safety and security in the country.

Commissioner Johan Burger (SAPS): “For a long time people have been saying that there are political motives behind these farm attacks and although there are many indicators which would support such a view, the fact doesn't support that. In none of those cases have we found any evidence of political motive.”

The primary motive is crime, says Prof Mark Welman, Director of the Crime Prevention Centre at Rhodes University in Grahamstown.

Prof Mark Welman, (Rhodes University): “They believe farmers keep a large amount of cash in safes to pay workers etc. The second thing is they have weapons, and weapons are a valuable commodity for criminals and thirdly - not in all cases, but in some cases - they want the vehicles.”

Welman says the same levels of brutality can also be seen in other sorts of crime in South Africa. . Mark: “As horrifying as those images are - and they are, I mean we need to be shocked. As a society we need to say, ‘My God what do we do about this?’ But they're not only being played out on farms in South Africa, they're being played out in townships in SA, in suburbs in SA, in places of work in SA. You know even the graphic images of torture - you know, humiliation of the victim - these are things that detectives are coming across every day in their work and again it's not only on farms.”

Yet statistics paint a different picture.

Dr Gregory H. Stanton (Genocide Watch): “It seems to me a very troubling statistic that the murder rate of the farmers, the Boer farmers, is about four times as high as is for the rest of the population”

Dr. Stanton is a retired American professor of law who heads Genocide Watch, the organisation that co-ordinates the international campaign to end genocide.

We met him in Berlin where he was attending a conference in remembrance of the Holocaust.

He believes that, apart from crime, there's also another motive.

Gregory: “There's a motive of hatred, that these are hate crimes, that people are tortured, that they're murdered in ways that are de-humanising.”

Not only does Stanton believe farm murders are hate crimes, but he's also recently warned the world that the white farmers in South Africa could be facing genocide. Twenty years ago he witnessed the horrors of the Cambodian genocide.

Gregory: “I realised, I think, from that point forward that I would spend the rest of my life working to stop genocide and to bring those who committed it to justice.”

Years later, that's exactly what he did. He was the person responsible for drafting the UN resolutions that created the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Stanton has identified eight stages of genocide by comparing the history of genocides in the 20th century. He describes it as a process, rather than an act that could take many years to be effected.

Gregory: “The third stage is really where you begin the downward spiral into genocide and that is the stage of de-humanisation. It is where you treat the other people as though they're less than human.”

A scene like this, he says, should have the alarm bells ringing.

This farmer was ambushed at his farm gate, shot in the back and left to die. His vehicle was burnt out and his body displayed with the lights and number plates.

Gregory: “These are clearly hate crimes. It's such a symbolic expression of de-humanisation. They're so treating him like a thing.”

It's often thought that a whole group needs to be killed before it's defined as genocide, but that's not the case.

Stanton says the more than one thousand four hundred farmers killed in South Africa could be classified under the Genocide Convention.

Gregory: “Even if it's a few hundred individuals who have been targeted, that is an act of genocide under the convention.”

But Welman says he strongly disagrees.

Prof Mark Welman: “Another important component of that is that it has to be planned, deliberate, systematic - in other words, orchestrated by some authority, figure or agency in some way. Now there's absolutely no evidence whatsoever that it's happening in farm attacks in South Africa.”

However, Stanton warns that South Africa has already slipped into the fifth stage of the process, or what he refers to as polarisation.

Gregory: “Extremists attempt to drive out the centre, they attempt to divide the world into just two camps; into us and them.”

And from there on, he says, it's a small step to the seventh stage when the actual genocide takes place and where the word genocide is used.

Gregory: “People who commit this crime often think amazingly enough that they're purifying their society in some way or another, you know - they're getting rid of insects or some kind of less than human form of life.”

A civil war is potentially more likely, says Moolman.

Prof Neels Moolman: “I don't think we are there yet, but I think that we are speeding to that point very fast if the radicals are not controlled properly.”

Gregory: “They will say that the genocide was really just a civil war as though a civil war somehow was an opposite of genocide when in fact many genocides occurred during civil wars.”

These are the faces of members of the farming community who've been murdered in the past nine years ….

But exact figures of just how many have been killed are hard to find.

Asst. Comm. Johan Burger (SAPS): “These statistics are reported to the Minister of Safety and Security and we have to wait for his approval before these statistics are officially released.”

When a local magazine recently published a request for names of murdered farmers, its offices were flooded with letters. But apart from that, the most complete information is published outside the country.

Adriana Stuijt: “I thought that South Africa was a democratic country and this was like a red flag to me. And ever since then we started publishing these things more and more because nobody else was doing it or monitoring it so little, doing it so little that I thought somebody had to do it and that's why I did it. “

In a small Dutch town we met retired journalist, Adriana Stuijt, who spent most of her life in South Africa.

Now back in The Netherlands, she uses the internet to compile statistics on farm murders in South Africa, drawing from a variety of sources like policemen and journalists who would like to see their stories published.

Adriana: “Parliamentary reports from parliamentary journalists, just a huge variety; policemen who really would like to see certain stories published because it would help in the public interest - they can't get them published. Other sources are undertakers, doctors, nurses, a great many ‘dominees’, people like that, just ordinary South Africans.”

The report that shocked her into action came from Interpol, saying South African farmers get killed at a rate of 313 per 100 000 of the population.

Adriana: “They're the highest number at risk of murder in the world. The most dangerous job in the world now is to be a South African farmer.”

And just how dangerous that job is recently became clear to Attie Vermaak, a fifth generation cattle farmer in the far north of the country.

Attie's on the road to recovery here, but a month earlier he was still bed-ridden after being shot at point blank range on a road on his farm. He had stopped to check water levels in a dam when a car drew up alongside him.

Attie Vermaak: “I greeted him and I said, ‘Tobela’. When I said ‘tobela’, he pulled a gun on me. And I immediately realised that he really meant business. The guy just stuck the gun into the cab and shot me, point blank.”

The bullet went through his body taking away part of his liver, then in and out of the binocular case next to him, through the seat of his car. It was finally stopped by the floor of the vehicle.

The workers on the back witnessed the incident, but were not harmed by the attackers.

Levi, the worker on the right remembers hearing the attackers shouting, ‘Shoot the dog, shoot the dog’, referring to Attie.

Neels: “There's a group of people who says that the revolution is not finished yet because the land has not been redistributed. The injustices of the past must be rectified but the question is how, and I don't think we should do that through violence and through land invasions. I think we should do it though an ordered process, but the process must go faster.”

The sheer beauty of the Limpopo landscape is misleading. Behind the fertile farmlands live families under severe stress and in fear.

Inspector Wimpie Knox is a detective who has investigated around 50 attacks on farms in this district.

His area stretches roughly over 50-thousand square kilometres of African bush and farmland. It's an immense task, but he says he's continuing for the sake of the community.

Insp. Wimpie Knox (SAPS): “My greatest fear is to arrive at a scene and to know the victims personally.”

And more than once this has happened. His elderly neighbour was ambushed and shot in cold blood. A woman on a nearby farm was killed as she was about to call for help on the radio.

In both cases no personal valuables were taken by the killers.

Wimpie: “To say you don't develop hatred for the criminals would be lying because at each scene you tell yourself if you catch them you're going to shoot them. But ultimately you have to remind yourself that you're not allowed to do it; you have to pull yourself together and don't do something you'll regret.”

But just more than a year ago farm killers hit even closer to home - once again on a Sunday morning.

Inspector Knox's 72-year old aunt was thrown down an embankment after she had been clubbed to death with a hammer.

The murdered woman was Hettie Drake's mother. She clearly remembers the day.

Hettie Drake: “It felt that my life went past me. I promised her that we would get them. They stole her life.”

A month earlier the family had celebrated their parents' 56th wedding anniversary. But even the photographs of that happy day were defaced by the killers.

Hettie: “It was racism, it was racism through and through and through.”

Prof. Mark Welman: “It's understandable that farmers feel they as a group are being targeted and I think one has to again deal with those concerns in a very sensitive way because probably if I were a farmer I'd also feel I'm really under threat and nobody's doing anything about it. I think where you encounter those cases where there's almost a kind of an element of, ‘ I am deliberately going to ventilate my anger on this person’, I think that does come into it, but again that's not primary motive.”

The elderly John and Bina Cross arrived home from church on a Sunday morning to be tortured and killed in the most gruesome way.

The worst case that the young Inspector ever investigated was on this farm.

‘The orgy of violence continued for seven hours’, says their daughter, Lita Fourie.

Lita: “They shot her through her knees, they burnt her with boiling water and then they shot her through the back with a large calibre rifle. She wasn't killed instantly. She died from blood loss. This house looked like a battlefield. There was blood everywhere. We picked it up with shovels.”

The killers tied Lita's father up in the bath, forced boiling hot water down his throat with a hand shower and then literally blasted away half of his head with a hunting rifle.

Wimpie: “I sat down next to him. I didn't even know him, but for a moment I almost became emotionally involved. To see an old man in his seventies after he was tied up and you have taken what you wanted. Why must you do this? Why did they have to kill him and in such a way?”

Inspector Knox arrested the murderers within hours. Even so, in the weeks to follow several of the colleagues who'd witnessed the scene with him decided they had had enough and left the service.

Wimpie: “I’ve also been to a psychologist. We are referred to them because they say we shouldn't bottle up. We have to talk to them. I think one should not be in a unit like this for too long.”

Research has shown that the typical farm attacker is between 17 and 28 years old and that they act in groups of between two and four people. Some are illiterate and they're usually unemployed.

Neels: “They have grown up during the freedom struggle. They're therefore used to the fact that violence is sanctioned in many cases.”

Busi Kwinda is a counselling psychologist at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation in Johannesburg. She believes that the cause of this violence is rooted in the experiences of the perpetrators.

Busi Kwinda, (Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation): “For you to solve an issue, maybe a violent act against you, you have to be violent yourself, so you find that they continue … it's like a vicious circle.”

She says trauma, if left unattended, changes ones perceptions and distorts reality.

Busi: “There's this terrible ways of killing people that shows that a person is sick. I mean you have boundaries within yourself where you know yes I cannot do this to another person, I cannot not do this to myself. They believe things have to be done their own way. It's my way or I'll be violent because maybe most of them internalised this negative coping violent ways of doing things.”

In a rural township far from the nearest city, we spoke to a teacher who doesn't want to be identified. He says he's often heard his pupils talk about attacking farmers who they believe have a lot of money.

Teacher: “The type of crime they talk about - that one of the farm killing - it's part of their game.”

And that game he says is justified by poverty.

Teacher: “People are jobless, this thing's got history, that we are where we are today because of oppression. It's a rare case where you find a black farm owner killed. A black owner can be robbed of his possessions but he cannot be killed. The deep hatred that thing can lead to a brutal killing, the rape of a wife.”

The polarisation finds expression not only in black youth. White farmers’ children are also treading a dangerous line in the name of self-defence.

When asked if he could shoot someone. this young boy replied, ‘Yes I think I could.’

This was the funeral in 2002 of Peter Mokaba, a popular ANC youth leader and deputy Minister. The crowd was chanting the slogan that had often made Mokaba headline news.

'Kill the farmer, kill the Boer', that was the chant while members of government watched.

Busi: “They hear this slogan, ‘Kill the boer, kill the farmer’ and, to them, it's like you go and do it as it is telling you. Their understanding of some of these concepts is very limited and restricted. They were trying to create meaning for themselves.”

A day or two later the incident was denounced by President Thabo Mbeki.

Dr Gregory H Stanton (President, Genocide Watch and Director, The International Campaign to end Genocide): “What was hopeful is that at least the President did denounce it later. But what worries me about the situation is that there evidently is popular sympathy with even those people who commit these crimes...It's the sort of pre-genocidal mentality that makes genocide possible later. If race riots developed of some sort or another, all of a sudden there is a very direct threat to a minority group and it can happen very fast.”

But it needn't.

Busi: “There is still hope. I still believe that things can still be worked out in a way that violence can be seen in a different way.”

I would appreciate it if you could add the following names to the 'Farm Attacks' list: Date: Names: 2 December 1997 Gerhard Scheepers (53) strangled and shot on farm Klipkrans, Mpumulanga 2 December 1997 Nelie Scheepers (52) tortured and shot on farm Klipkrans, Mpumulanga Thanking you

Mrs G Thomson (nee Scheepers)

Dear Mrs Thompson,

Many thanks for taking the trouble to inform us of these farm attacks.

Noted in your list of farm murders that CL Aldridge was omitted,he was murdered on the 18th of January 2003 while selling milk in the Boston area.He was not carrying a firearm and had very little money on him.His murderer is in custody. JWD Chatterton

From: Plaas__Kind (Original Message) Sent: 2003/06/27 04:26 By Registered Mail January 07, 2003 Mr. I.H. Asper, O.C., O.M., Q.C. Executive Chairman and Founder CanWest Global Communications Corp. 3100 TD Centre, 201 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3B 3L7 Dear Mr. I.H. Asper: Truth, Integrity and Honour In my letter of November 11, 2002, I celebrated your reported appeal for truth and integrity in Canadian media. [1][2] Being a media mogul yourself, your criticism of “dishonest reporting” and “engineered media bias” was a promising development to furthering the integrity and morals of the media. Just like you, as a principled person I also support truthful and honest reporting. The hypocrisy often revealed by “dishonest reporting” and “engineered media bias” irks me seemingly just as much as you. Your protest against hypocrisy alludes to truth, integrity and honesty as virtues of a personally fostered principled code of moral values. Because I fully identify with a moral code that is centred on truth, integrity and honesty, I therefore answered your invitation to be “more aggressive and vigilant” in guarding these virtues by writing you of deficiencies in your own media corporations that you were seemingly unaware. I trusted that your appeal was without any pretence and a sincere effort to the development of journalistic ethics. However, CanWest Global Communications Corporation and the National Post with which you are associated remains to date as dishonest and biased in its anti-Boer reporting as the Canadian media ever was. The habitual denial by Canadian media of Canadian involvement in both the most severe extermination rate as well as the second most severe extermination rate in the recorded history of South Africa exemplary vindicates my assertion. The first incident refers to the centennial commemoration in 2002 of the Anglo-Boer War. The Government of Canada approved the participation of 7,000 Canadian soldiers in this war on a different continent and in a different hemisphere against Boers; a small nation comprising a minority in South Africa.[3] During this war Canadian soldiers assisted with the incarceration of women and children in concentration camps. Practices in these camps include among other abominable practices the starvation of children precipitated by the two scale rations with a lower scale for the women and children whose husbands and fathers were on commando,[4] the non-sterilization of typhoid infected linen[5] and the procreation of disease through non-existent sanitization infrastructure.[6] Not surprising under these conditions a total of 86 percent of all Boers that were killed died in concentration camps.[7][8] Most disturbingly, Canadians assisted in a war in which the majority of casualties sustained by any one group were children - Boer children. These Canadians contributed to a war effort that left at least one in five Boer children exterminated in concentration camps.[9] In fact, children 16 years of age and younger comprised 70 percent of all Boer casualties for the war.[10][11] In view of the extermination of a generation of Boer children in concentration camps the construal of this war as a war on women and children is cogent. In Olive Shreiner’s comments on this war against women and children Canada may very well be substituted for England as follows: “That the bulk of the people in [Canada] could sit silent and unmoved while private houses were burnt down and women and young children turned homeless into the wilds, in order that through wounding the affections and sympathies of men their army might be paralyzed for further warfare… had one told me that these things could be, and the bulk of the [Canadian] nation sit by silent and unmoved, I would have regarded him as one who dreams in a fever.”[12] The atrocities inflicted on Boers, and especially Boer children, by Canadians in the infamous death camps represent the most severe extermination rate of any group in all of the recorded history of South Africa. No record could be found of Canadian denunciation of these atrocities against Boers that were sanctioned by the Government of Canada and enforced by Canadian soldiers.[13][14] But would the majority of Canadians have remained silent and unmoved by these atrocities, both then and now, had the media reported on it truthfully and honestly without anti-Boer bias? The second most severe extermination rate in the recorded history of South Africa once more targets Boer farmers and once again involves Canada. Albeit a century later, again Boer farmers are the victims of a most severe extermination and again Canadians play their part. Most disturbingly, this extermination is presently in process. One in 40 Boer farmers have been exterminated and nearly one in five have been attacked in their own homes and on their own farms since 1991.[15][16][17] Victims of these attacks include young Boer children, Boer women and frail elders who have been tortured, raped and/or murdered.[18][19][20][21][22][23][24] The annual per capita murder rate of Boer farmers exceeds 250 per 100,000 of target population. [25][26][27] It should not be lost on you that the contemporary extermination of Boer farmers intensified after the person who campaigned for this extermination was appointed to the Government of South Africa. He coined the heinous slogan “kill the Boer, kill the farmer” and was a chief strategist for the African National Congress, the party which constitutes the majority in the Government of South Africa. Consider that the president who appointed to his government the hate speaker who campaigned for the extermination of Boer farmers with odious chants of “kill the Boer, kill the farmer” was later bestowed with honorary citizenship of Canada. This slogan that incites to ethnic motivated murder of a visible and ethnic minority, which also is the most exterminated group in the country, has to date been employed in the presence of every African majority president and deputy president of South Africa with absolutely no consequence to the perpetrators. During a ceremony over the period June 14-16, 2002, that was attended by the honorary citizen of Canada and a former president, Mr. Nelson Mandela, as well as President Thabo Mbeki and Deputy President Jacob Zuma the slogan “kill the Boer, kill the farmer” was persistently chanted for hours.[28][29] Despite the fact that Boer farmers were the most murdered grouping under the jurisdiction of their government, not one of them impeded the persistent public chanting of the ominous slogan, even though it incites to ethnic motivated murder of a beleaguered visible minority; indeed they allowed its unabated use at the public ceremony. Any indulgence by the honorary citizen of Canada of ethnic motivated extermination implicates Canada as a whole. Canadian media became obligated to report on the extermination of Boer farmers when the honorary citizen of Canada allowed blatant incitement to Boer extermination. In fact, it was the obligation of Canadian media to forewarn Canada of the inclusion of campaigners for genocide in a government that was by implication honoured by way of bestowing honorary citizenship on the president who assembled it. However, no record could be found of Canadian denunciation of indulgence by the honorary citizen of Canada of incitement to ethnic motivated murder of visible and ethnic minority Boer farmers, even though they are the most severely exterminated group in the recorded history of South Africa. The Boer farmer ethnic and visible minority is the most exterminated group in all of South Africa. No other group has ever experienced a higher extermination rate in all of the recorded history of South Africa than have Boer farmers. Take special note of the fact that Genocide Watch has issued an alert regarding this, the second most severe extermination of Boer farmers, and warned that the present genocide of Boer farmers is approaching stage five of the genocidal process.[30] The present denial of Boer farmer genocide is customary of the media in Canada and has a historical parallel. At the same time that Boer farmers commemorated the loss of their children in concentration camps a century ago during the most severe genocide that South Africa has on record and in which Canada played a part, Canada in contrast celebrates with accolades of honorary citizenship to the person under whose presidency Boer farmers endured and still endure the second most severe genocide on record. The persistent conspiracy to silence by the contemporary media in Canada notwithstanding official Canadian links) of the commemoration of the most severe genocide of Boer farmers a century ago at the time that Boer farmers are concurrently enduring the second most severe genocide, provides irrefutable proof of “dishonest reporting” and “engineered media bias”. It is highly relevant to note that according to the Genocide Watch model the eighth and final stage of genocide is “Denial”. This model provides a remarkable accurate depiction of Canada’s involvement in Boer genocides over the last century and to this day. It is this state of denial of previously perpetrated genocides that permits concurrence with similarly denied subsequent perpetrations of genocides. Genocide Watch comments as follows on stage eight, that is Denial: “Denial is the eighth stage that always follows a genocide. It is among the surest indicators of further genocidal massacres....The perpetrators of genocide……try to cover up the evidence and intimidate the witnesses. They deny that they committed any crimes, and often blame what happened on the victims. They block investigations of the crimes….” Evidently, Canadian society is in a state of denial regarding their real involvement and contribution to Boer genocides; any allusion thereto is effectively blocked and covered up by the media. In the essay entitled Involving Others: Towards an Ethical Concept of Risk Christoph Rehmann-Sutter provides ethical reasoning on dealing with risk that affects “others”. It equally applies in this matter. (Refer footnote 31 on page 134 for proper use and interpretation of the term risk). He posits that “(t)he selection of the principles or of the moral approaches we decide to use should be the subject of an open discourse.…(T)he selection of ‘moral standpoints’ or ‘ethical theories’….must be particularly open enough to challenge the rationality of the ‘generalized other’ and to introduce the rationality of the ‘concrete other’ in its own right” where the term other refers to “experiences of persons who find themselves (or others they are related to) affected by….risk.” Rehman-Sutter also provides a possible explanation for Canada’s failure to observe this ethical principle: “We have difficulty in adequately including those other persons physically affected by the consequences of the decision. Often, they themselves have to fight to be included in the decision-making process, where the concept of risk is worked out in reality. These other participants are abstract; attention is diverted away from them. These participants are conceptually hidden.” [32] And so, these real situations lead us to an ethical analysis of Canada’s involvement and the inevitable denial in recurring genocides, in spite of influential efforts to block it. Even when Boer children constituted the greater portion of victims that was exterminated in concentration camps during the Canadian assisted invasion, and even when this extermination became the highest extermination rate on record for the invaded country, even then and to this day Canada’s moral guardians resist any and all allusions to wrongdoing. Why should anyone then be surprised by Canada’s denial of any wrongdoing through involvement with the second most severe extermination rate on record a century later when it again relates to the same country and the same “other” persecuted people? It is this state of denial that permits an ostensible perception of integrity to persist among the collective Canadian superficial conscience, in spite of the obvious hypocrisy of a flawed morality that protests the genocide of some people while accepting the genocide of “others”. It possibly also explains your unresponsiveness to my letter of November 11, 2002. I had hoped that by writing you in response to your appeal for “more aggressive and vigilant” guarding of truth and integrity in the media, the morals of your media corporations would be elevated. Instead, it now appears that you also choose the bliss of ignorance when the truth is considered the folly of wisdom. But what, then, of integrity and honour? In so far dishonest reporting and engineered media bias by the media in Canada applies to past genocides, it proves the alleged state of denial. But in so far this dishonest reporting and engineered media bias applies to present genocides that are in process, it provides a case for concurrence to genocide. As I have indicated in my letter of November 11, 2002, I am convinced that your actions can save threatened human lives; just as your silence sanctions these atrocities. I therefore beseech you to deal with the extermination of visible minority Boer farmers in South Africa in a manner that is devoid of all hypocrisy and that reveals the character of your morality. Genocide is at all times immoral under civilized political dispensations. If ever your valuation of human life is conditional on perceived popularity, kinship or political correctness, you then fail the test of a principled ethics system centred upon truth, integrity and honour. I appeal to you for the second time if you are not in concurrence with the genocide of Boers to sign the Pledge Against Genocide written by Genocide Watch – the International Campaign to end Genocide and adhere to its directives (enclosed). Yours sincerely, _________________________________________________________ Endnotes: [1] We must end media bias against Israel, National Post, October 31, 2002, p A18. [2] CanWest founder condemns media’s anti-Israel ‘bias’, National Post, October 31, 2002. [3] The Canadian Anglo-Boer War Museum, 2 Intro 2 - M, http://www.goldiproductions.com/Pages/P2Boer/Boer2_intro2.html#Boer2TOP[4] The Boer War by Pakenham, T., 1979, p 505, 506. [5] The Boer War by Pakenham, T., 1979, p 516. [6] ‘Unpleasant Reading’ by Deidre Snook, September 25, 2002, News24.com Special Reports, http://www.news24.com/News24/ScorchedEarth/InDepth/0,4345,2-1114-1116_1021731,00.html[7] Anglo-Boer War Museum of the Boer Republics, http://www.anglo-boer.co.za/concentration.html[8] South African War Virtual Library, http://www.bowlerhat.com.au/sawvl//statistics.html[9] The Boer War by Pakenham, T., 1979, p 331 (opposite). [10] Anglo-Boer War Museum of the Boer Republics, http://www.anglo-boer.co.za/concentration.html[11] Package of Destruction by News24.com Special Reports, September 30, 2002, [13] http://www.news24.com/News24/ScorchedEarth/InDepth/0,4345,2-1114-1116_997129,00.html[12] As quoted in Mounted Infantry at War., St. Leger, S., Galago, Alberton, 1986, p. 228, on Long Tom’s War Zone The Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902, http://abw.netfirms.com/quotatio.htm[13] Canadian War Museum, Imperial Adventure, Battles, Harts River (Boschbult); 31 March 1902, http://www.civilization.ca/cwm/saw/battles/harts_e.html[14] The Canadian Anglo-Boer Museum, 5 Sheet Music - M, http://www.goldiproductions.com/Pages/P2Boer/Boer5_sheet.html#Boer5TOP[15] 1,000 killed in farm attacks, August 7, 2001, http://www.news24.com. [16] Ethnic cleansing of Southern Africa’s commercial farm communities, undated, http://www.censorbugbear.com[17] Overname van commerciële Zuidafrikaanse landbouwgrond voor stamcultivatie, by Adriana Stuijt, August 20, 2001, http://www.nieuwsgrazer.nl[18] Double murder baffles cops, by Rapport, June 03, 2001, http://www.news24.com[19] Farm-attack claims two: Man shoots mother and daughters (translated), by Danie Toerien of Beeld newspaper, October 16, 2001 [20] Spate of farm attacks in Mpuma, June 16, 2002, http://www.news24.com[21] Farm killers ‘hid’ body, by Liela Magnus, January 7, 2002, http://www.news24.com[22] Girl’s night of terror after grandparents’ murder, by Die Burger newspaper, March 26, 2001, http://www.news24.com[23] Farm attack suspects nabbed, by Sapa, January 16, 2002, http://www.news24.com[24] FF slams ‘hate speech’, June 16, 2002, http://www.news24.com[25] Ethnic cleansing of Southern Africa’s commercial farm communities, undated, http://www.censorbugbear.com[26] Overname van commerciële Zuidafrikaanse landbouwgrond voor stamcultivatie, by Adriana Stuijt, August 20, 2001, http://www.nieuwsgrazer.nl[27] Farmers at higher risk than cops, January 8, 2001, http://www.news24.com[28] DA slams ANC’s ‘double-speak’, June 16, 2002, http://www.news24.com[29] Mokaba’s slogan sparks anger, June 17, 2002, http://www.news24.com[30] Over 1000 Boer Farmers in South Africa Have Been Murdered Since 1991, [33] Genocide Alerts and News Updates on Alerts, September 2002, Genocide Watch , Washington D.C. USA, http://www.genocidewatch.org[31] 8. Denial, The Eight Stages of Genocide, by Gregory H. Stanton, Genocide Watch, Washington D.C. USA, http://www.genocidewatch.org/8stages.htm[32] Involving Others: Towards an Ethical Concept of Risk by Christoph Rehmann-Sutter in Risk, Vol.9: Health, Safety and Environment, No.119 [Spring 1998] p119-136. --- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 23/06/2003 Received from Adriana Stuijt (Censor Bugbear) - http://www.censorbugbear.com

THREE FARM ATTACKS IN NELSPRUIT AREA: TWO DIE 20030623 - Willem Janson, 55, Bundu Country Lodge owner, shot by six attackers 20030616 - Ronald & Maxi Ashburner, Nelspruit, assaulted, survived attack, one attacker killed; 20030615 - Thomas Ramsey, 56, farmer near Nelspruit, killed by attackers Swazi knowledge helps wildlife farmer 23/06/2003 - Marietie Louw - Nelspruit - His knowledge of Siswati helped him to understand what his six armed attackers were saying and it enraged him so, the owner of a game farm near Nelspruit in Mpumalanga decided to fight like a lion. Willem Janson, 55, owner of the Bundu Country Lodge between Nelspruit and White River is known his harbouring and saving endangered bird species. Last year three blue crane birds were re-settled on his farm. Janson was shot in his side by six attackers on Saturday. When one of his attackers told another in Siswati that they were going to kill him, Janson decided enough was enough. Ashburner couple: The attack was the third in a week in the Nelspruit area. Ronald Ashburner, 68, and his wife, Maxi, 66, were overpowered at their farm on Thursday evening. One of the attackers was shot dead. Thomas Ramsey: In another attack, Thomas Ramsey, 56, was hit with a pick-axe, strangled and killed on his farm outside Nelspruit a week ago. Tracy Chambers, manager of the Bundu Lodge, said Janson understood when one of the attackers told his friends that they had to "hurry up" - and to turn Janson on to his stomach and then shoot him in the back of his head. Chambers said Janson decided there and then to fight. Janson was admitted to a private hospital in Nelspruit and was in satisfactory condition on Sunday evening. Captain Thabisile Gama, police spokesperson in the Lowveld, said Janson was attacked by six men about 19:00 and forced into his home on the private wildlife reserve. The men demanded "money and guns". Janson became involved in a fierce struggle and one of the attackers started firing. One of the bullets grazed the side of his head and another lodged in his side. Gama said the attackers fled. Chambers said Janson tried to follow them, but he was too seriously injured. He contacted staff members at the Country Lodge for assistance. His cellphone was stolen, but the contents of the house were left untouched. "We are so pleased that he wasn't killed." Janson made the news last year when three blue crane birds were re-settled on his farm. He is particularly interested in saving endangered bird species.

Nelspruit - His knowledge of Siswati helped him to understand what his six armed attackers were saying and it enraged him so, the owner of a game farm near Nelspruit in Mpumalanga decided to fight like a lion.

Willem Janson, 55, owner of the Bundu Country Lodge between Nelspruit and White River, was shot in his side on Saturday. When one of his attackers told another in Siswati that they were going to kill him, Janson decided enough was enough.

The attack was the third in a week in the Nelspruit area. Ronald Ashburner, 68, and his wife, Maxi, 66, were overpowered at their farm on Thursday evening. One of the attackers was shot dead. In another attack, Thomas Ramsey, 56, was hit with a pick-axe, strangled and killed on his farm outside Nelspruit a week ago.

Tracy Chambers, manager of the Bundu Lodge, said Janson understood when one of the attackers told his friends that they had to "hurry up", turn Janson on to his stomach and shoot him in the back of his head.

Chambers said Janson decided there and then to fight.

Janson was admitted to a private hospital in Nelspruit and was in a satisfactory condition on Sunday evening.

Captain Thabisile Gama, police spokesperson in the Lowveld, said Janson was attacked by six men about 19:00 and forced into his home on the game farm. The men demanded "money and guns".

Janson became involved in a fierce struggle and one of the attackers started firing. One of the bullets grazed the side of his head and another lodged in his side.

Gama said the attackers fled afterwards.

Chambers said Janson tried to follow them, but he was too seriously injured. He contacted staff members at the Country Lodge for assistance. His cellphone was stolen, but the contents of the house was left untouched. "We are so pleased that he wasn't killed."

Janson made the news last year when three blue crane birds were re-settled on his farm. He is particularly interested in saving endangered bird species.

145 farmers a year average murdered, many more attacked: The agricultural union Agri-South Africa and the New National Party have both called on the government to release its crime statistics - saying until this is done, nobody can verify the government's latest claims that the farm attacks have been "declining". And Democratic Alliance Chief Whip Douglas Gibson warned that crime in South Africa has become a crisis and insisted in parliament that the police should release crime statistics at once. "If the statistics reflect a positive trend, why are they not made public?" asked Agri-SA spokesman Kobus Visser. And NNP safety and security spokesperson Johnny Schippers said the release of the figures "could do much to ease the fears of farmers. Rather than hiding statistics, the police need to be actively involved in the generation and dissemination of information about the nation's crime situation." 'I am not allowed to give out figures' National police commissioner Jackie Selebi claimed that there had been "a decrease in farm murders this year" -- but was not allowed to publish the statistics. His office director Sally de Beer, said: "I am not allowed to give out figures before our annual report is tabled in parliament." This was expected to happen in August or September, she said. However only the next day, Penuell Maduna, the Justice Minister, promised in a public speech that "South African crime statistics will be released soon." http://www.sabcnews.com/south_africa/crime1justiceMeanwhile Visser said Agri South Africa found it difficult to react to the latest disclosure from Selebi's office. "How could we? We don't have the statistics they are using - and they don't want to give us the figures." He said Agri South Africa's own records showed farm murders had 'stabilised' around the level of 145 killings a year but that the attacks in the rural areas have been rising steadily "by about 10 percent a year from 1997 to 2001." http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=13&art_id=vn20030620090053476C343022&set_id=1http://www.vf.co.za/a/index.asphttp://www.sabc.co.za/units/chanafr/news/021217.htmlhttp://www.dispatch.co.za/2003/01/21/southafrica/ESPEECH.HTMhttp://www.dispatch.co.za/2003/01/21/southafrica/http://www.702.co.za/news/general/982763.htm----- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 18/06/2003 Received from Adriana Stuijt (Censor Bugbear) - http://www.censorbugbear.com20030619 - Ben Vorster, 67, farm Annashoop, Plooysburg, Northern Cape murder: 3 found guilty June 19, 2003: Klaas Sekgaba, Thumi Maphasa and Josiah Mess Meanwhile on June 19, three young African men were jailed for killing a Northern Cape farmer last ear. Klaas Sekgaba, Thumi Maphasa and Josiah Mess were found guilty of attacking and murdering Ben Vorster (67) of the farm Annashoop in the Plooysburg district on May 28 2002. Vorster had left the farmhouse in the late afternoon to lock up a shop he had on the farm, and returned shortly afterwards, severely injured with a gunshot wound to the head. His wife Petro called an ambulance, but he died enroute to hospital. Sekgaba was sentenced to 20 years' jail for the murder, while Maphasa and Mess both got life sentences. The men also received jail terms of various lengths for theft of firearms, attempted robbery, and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition. These sentences were to run concurrently with the murder sentences. The trial did not reveal their motive for killing the farmer instead of just robbing him of his firearms. Sapa http://www.sabcnews.com/south_africa/crime1justice/0,1009,60808,00.htmlhttp://groups.msn.com/CRIMEBUSTERSofSouthAfrica/farmattacks.msnw?action=get_message&ID_Message=1798--- * Posted to CBSA Message Board /06/2003 Received from Adriana Stuijt (Censor Bugbear) - http://www.censorbugbear.com

20030619 Carol Taylor, 40, Cresthaven farm, Merrivale Heights, KZN survives armed attack by five men. Five men attacked Mrs Carol Taylor, 40, on her farm near Howick in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands yesterday. They used her car for a getaway - but the Mazda bakkie, registration NR-3776, is expected to be recovered as usual in farm attacks. Police place this armed attack into their crime statistics as an an armed robbery instead of a farm attack-- because the farm's 12-bore shotgun was taken, along with a cellphone. Police said Carol Taylor (40) was alone on the Cresthaven farm at Merrivale Heights when the five men armed with pistols, assaulted her, tied her up and locked her into a bathroom. Sapa http://www.sabcnews.com/south_africa/crime1justice/0,1009,60774,00.htmlhttp://www.sapa.org.za/public/browse.cfm?&category=%27A%27&agemax=dDeath of farmer Willie Griebenow, 56, Walkerville: Police ignored emergency calls-

Jo Prins of Beeld writes that 56-year-old smallholder Willie Griebenow was stabbed to death on his agricultural holding at Walkerville near Vereeniging on Saturday-night (June 14, 2003) This news was only released on Tuesday -- and only once a suspected man had been arrested, however. Thys Griebenow, son of the murdered farmer, and who had rushed his injured father to a Walkerville doctor's office said they had been farming with cattle for the past 28 years there. He said police arrested a man after tipoffs from other workers about "someone bragging about having stabbed a Boer to death". Police inspector John Maloka said a 63-year-old suspect is in custody and expected to be remanded in the local law court soon. The son said disagreements and misunderstandings over wages had arisen among workers on their smallholding -- but apparently only after the Griebenows and the workers had signed the government's legally-required minimum-wage agreement about three months ago. Commercial farmers have repeatedly warned the government against the current "two-tier minimum wage laws" in its present form, fearing repercussions because workers in some districts were paid higher wages than in other districts under the new law --and this could lead to misunderstanding of the law, resentment and reprisals from frequently illiterate workers.

Pretoria - Robbery could not be the primary motive for farm attacks and replacing commandos with reservists was "unacceptable".

So say agricultural organisations, who reacted on Wednesday to remarks by Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula in parliament on Tuesday that "the desire to rob" was the motive for farm attacks.

AgriSA vice-president Lourie Bosman said there were "definitely" other motives.

"It's not necessarily a political campaign, but intimidation, racism and revenge play a role. Too many people are cruelly murdered without anything being stolen," he said.

Boela Niemann of the Transvaal Agricultural Union (TAU) said slogans such as "Kill the boer, kill the farmer", which are still in use, "definitely contribute to farm murders".

TAU's priority committee on rural security found former farmworkers were increasingly involved in attacks.

Niemann said TAU "would still decide" if it supported the new system replacing commandos.

"If the new system is a political ploy, we're not interested. If it improves security, we'll support it."

Johannesburg - Farm killings in South Africa are an ethnic cleansing campaign against farmers.

This is the message that a South African and an American journalist will send out when travelling through England to protest against farm attacks in South Africa.

Malcolm Wren, a South African who has been living in England for a number of years, and Anthony LoBaido - a New York journalist - will hand out ribbons for every victim of farm killings along their route.

"More than 1 450 farmers, some of their family members and employees have been murdered in South Africa since 1994 in the continuing genocide," said Wren.

He claims that there had been more than 8 000 farm attacks in South Africa since 1994.

The two men will start their crusade on July 27 in Avonmouth, Bristol.

20030613 - Thomas Ramsay, 56, murdered in farm attack (British citizen) near Nelspruit Nelspruit - June 12, 2003 -- Thomas Ramsay, 56, and his wife Beverly-Ann, 54, both British citizens who had rented a home on a farm in the sub-tropical Nelspruit region of South Africa, became the latest victims of the country's terrifying farm attack epidemic - and which international experts have started identifying as a deliberate genocide of the country's most visible and indeed its smallest ethnic minority: (see report: http://www.genocidewatch.org/BoersSlain01.htmMr Ramsay was murdered and Mrs Ramsay was badly traumatised from this vicious attack -- which occurred when they were ambushed inside their bedroom by four heavily-armed young African males. The couple had just returned to the rental house at about 9pm on Thursday night on a farm near Nelspruit. It's not at all clear why the attackers hadn't simply ransacked and robbed the place before the tenants' return: instead they had waited for the couple to come back, tied them up, ransacked the house and then stabbed Mr Ramsay to death. These kind of mysterious actions make the South African farm attacks stand out from the usual "crime-related robberies" seen in that crime-wracked country -- these attackers seemed to want to attack the people living on these farms, often waiting inside the farm houses to ambush them, with robbery clearly only a secondary motive. Since 1994, more than 25% of the commercial agricultural community in South Africa has already been targetted in more than 8,000 armed attacks, invariably carried out by young African males who were previously unknown to the victims. These attacks have also turned the South African farmer into the most-at-risk-of murder group in the entire world : they are being murdered at the rate of 313 per 100,000 according to both Interpol and the International Campaign to End Genocide. Local police superintendent Isak van Zyl confirmed this latest attack, as did Clive Hatch, a spokesman for the Democratic Alliance opposition party, who strongly condemned the attack on the British couple and has -- once again -- called for an urgent overhaul in all of the State's protection measures in all rural areas. Superintendent Van Zyl said Mr and Mrs Ramsay were attacked by the young African males inside their bedroom shortly after returning home at 21:00. The couple were both tied up before the attackers had ransacked the house -- and then, while Mr Ramsay was still tied up, totally defenceless -- was stabbed and killed. http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1373340,00.html

Arson, AK-47s used in ethnic murders of SA farmers Jun 13 2003 - Johannesburg, South Africa. Arson is being used increasingly as a tactic to lure farm owners from their houses -- to overpower and murder them with AK-47 military assault rifles. Boela Niemann of the 40,000-member Transvaal Agricultural Union (TLU) warned today of this new tactic in his retirement speech at the TLU's national priority committee for rural security. He also announced that retired SA major-general Chris van Zyl has now been appointed as the TLU's new manager for safety. The general formerly commanded the Western Province Military Command where troops were used to combat gang warfare on the Cape Flats, commanded the SADF's Regional Joint Task Force West and served on rural safety task forces in the northern Cape and Eastern Transvaal. Niemann said maj-gen Van Zyl will direct his experience and knowledge on tactical- and strategic defence levels to the benefit of all the TLU members. "The Transvaal Agricultural Union of South Africa has a responsibility towards all its members to protect their safety and property rights. The current security situation is very dangerous. The Union therefore decided to appoint the best man for the job. We are confident that Maj Gen van Zyl will contribute to the wellbeing of agriculture. http://www.tlu.co.za or http://www.rights2property.comNiemann said over the past few months, a dramatic increase has been noticed among the well-organised groups of young African male attackers which target the farms of their members in the use of AK-47 military assault rifles. "Although the use of these firearms in farm attacks decreased dramatically last year, in the past few months it has soared." These findings were announced only a day after Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula had claimed in parliament that farm attacks were only motivated by "the desire to rob". Agricultural organisations have reacted sharply to Nqakula's remarks - providing proof that robbery is not the primary motive for farm attacks. The TLU has warned farmers to be extremely careful this winter when the veld dries up -- because the attackers coften are known to torch the veld only to mount armed ambushes against the farm owners who rush out to try and douse the flames. Also, many fires are also being lit in sheds or storerooms to lure farmers out of their homes. Homesteads themselves are also increasingly being targetted by arson attacks, he said. Military expert Henri Boshoff of the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria confirmed that arson attacks were particularly prevalent on grain farms.

Susan Puren produced a programme about the SA farmers for Carte Blanche -- she was CNN's African journalist of the year 2002. While investigating the SA farm murder phenomenon she discovered that these more than 8,000 armed attacks by young, heavily-armed African males targetting the commercial farming community since 1994 --are officially labelled the "Boer Genocide" by the US-based-experts of the International Campaign against Genocide. Ms Puren's programme is scheduled for broadcasting this Sunday, June 22 on Carte Blanche: http://www.mnet.co.za/carteblanche/about/cbl_aboutus_team_puren.asphttp://www.mnet.co.za/carteblanche/

Vote of no-confidence in SA government: A recent poll on Carte Blanche asked the question whether "the SA government will be able to safeguard the country's farms against land grabs?" The replies were revealing: only 11.11% (92 internet users) voted "yes"-- and 88.89% (736) voted "no."

Vrede, OFS - June 11, 2003 -- The body of 41-year-old Afrikaner gardener Nicholas Goossen -- who had gone missing in Heidelberg last week -- was found on the farm Meadowbank near Vrede in the eastern Free State on Tuesday. Police constable Christopher Mophiring said Mr Goossen's throat had been slit and there was an open wound in his abdomen. Simon Mokoena, 20, Phillip Seretho, 24, and Joseph Motaung, 18, are remand prisoners who are scheduled to appear in Vrede magistrate's court on June 19. They had found by police driving a stolen car belonging to Kotie A Smith of Heidelberg.

Police still have to determine where the murder had taken place but last week Wednesday, Vrede residents had reported seeing a car with Gauteng licence plates driving around the area. The car had three black men and one white man in it. Goossen's body was discovered on the farm on Tuesday. Police established that the car had been stolen from Mr Smith in Heidelberg who had employed Mokoena and Goossen as itinerant gardeners. Police believe the "white man" seen in the car was Goossen. Mr Smith's car has now been returned to him.

The three men, who appeared in court on Tuesday, will appear in Vrede magistrate's court again on June 19

June 11 2003 -- PARLIAMENT, Cape Town. Christi van der Westhuizen of Beeld writes that the minister of safety and security Charles Nqakula has "promised urgent steps to prevent criminality from the illegal land occupations" after this recommendation was made by the committee investigating the farm attacks. He said this in parliament on Tuesday. He also revealed that he had now received what he called an "intermediate" report on the farm attack investigation commission from advocate Charl du Plessis -- the claimed results of which were however met immediately with scathing criticism by all three Afrikaner community leaders in parliament. In spite of reports by world's top genocide expert at the International Campaign against Genocide which in December last year labelled the SA farm attacks as downright genocide -- Nqakula once again repeated the tired, old ANC-claims that these farm attacks are merely motivated by plain old crime rather than any " organised campaign to chase Afrikaner farmers off their land." This comment was met with palpable derision by the Afrikaner leaders who listened to it with growing incredulity. Cassie Aucamp of the National Alliance, the Freedom Front's Pieter Groenewald and Dr Ferdi Hartzenberg of the Conservative Party of South Africa all were immediately dismissive of the minister's comments -- pointing out the many genocide-like features of the farm attacks which sets them apart from all other "normal robberies". South African farm attacks, they pointed out, were vastly different in many respects such as the great many hidious mutilations of peoplem, including even the smallest infants- and well as livestock; the long hours of torture and the huge number of rapes (more than 50%) which are being endured by the thousands of victims, together with the fact that very often, nothing much of value is really stolen in these well-organised armed attacks, carried out with such "barbarous ferocity."

Post-traumatic stress syndrome -- This terror targetting farmers has created such massive trauma among the entireAfrikaner agricultural community, of whom more than 25% have already suffered attacks over the past decade, that countrywide trauma treatment workshops have even had to be been set up to deal with it. Psychiatrists treating these farm attack victims also report unusually high levels of post-traumatic stress syndrome usually only seen in war-time soldiers. Pictures -- see some pictures of farm attacks: http://www.hnp.org.za/afrikaner/nov2k3/art.htmCP leader Dr Hartzenberg (contact: Tel: 012 329 1220, fax 012 329 1229 kpvansa@lantic.net) said this latest preliminary report was simply "unbelievable and undermines even more the trustworthiness of government statements and its increasingly faulty statistics, which are raising suspicion and causes a loss of government credibility."

He warned that this growing lack of credibility undermines investors' faith in the government. World's top genocide experts see the farm attacks as "Boer Genocide": Moreover, the world's top genocide experts at the International Campaign against Genocide last December also studied the farm attack phenomenon and concluded that the South African farm attacks are worrying signs of "an advanced stage of genocide which is not being widely noticed because it targets such a tiny ethnic community". Read the entire report on: http://www.genocidewatch.org/BoersSlain01.htmAnd the Freedom Front's Groenewald also questioned minister Nqakula's taking a full year to release this report if he had nothing to hide - since its findings would have been known throughout that time. Nqakula did admit in parliament yesterday however that "illegal land occupations of privately-owned farm land were identified as a "crime-risk" by the commission -- and "drastic steps must be taken to counteract this problem." Landless People's Campaigners -- Calling it a "crime risk" is a gross understatement of the overwhelming body of evidence in the killing fields of South Africa -- namely that a great many highly aggressive organisations, led by ANC-affiliated organisers such as Wellington Didibhuku Thwala of the Landless People's Campaign, Victor Thoka and Ishmael Lesufi of the Rural Action Groups and many other similar local grouplets who all are interlinked, have for the past decade been aggressively using thousands of desperately poor homeless families with which to invade farm land all over the country. Artificial "land disputes" - They thus force artificial "land disputes' and these homeless families are so poor that crime is a secondary result of these occupations: these families often start attacking, robbing and threatening the lives of farm owners and thus steadily terrorise them off their land. Formal policy -- their motto is "Land for those who work it, not just for those who can buy it"-- http://www.nlc.co.za/pubs2003/press-mar-20-trac-mpuma.htmThe minister now promised to hold urgent talks about the issue with agri-land affairs minister Thoko Didiza. But just after this statement, he also sounded a more ominous note, namely that the government was continuing with its plans to remove the farmers' last military defence, namely its commando system -- and that the regime had already launched a countrywide hiring drive for police reservists to replace the military-reservist commandos who have always traditionally guarded South African farms -- and are usually drawn from local volunteer members of the agricultural community itself who know local conditions the best. Land Affairs department very corrupt -- Human Rights commission: Meanwhile however Mrs Didiza appears to be having enough problems of her own. Journalist Cobus Grobler, also of Beeld, reports that the Human Rights Commission is very critical of the high-level corruption in this woman's department. The HRC warned that the excruciatingly slow pace in which she is actually carrying out the land reform process is having a "very detrimental effect." Mbeki's ongoing "land reform" programme basically involves buying up huge swathes of productive private farm land (usually with massive dollops of foreign donor funds) and carve these up into 1.5-hectare plots for "farms" to house agriculturally-inexperienced subsistence families on -- while more than a million State-owned land still remains fallow and unoccupied. Didiza's department's high-level corruption has only come to light now in the Human Rights Commission 's fourth report about economic and sociological rights between 2000 and 2002. They were highly critical of the culture of corruption, nepotism and downright sabotage which the reports writes is "rife among the officials in Didiza's land affairs department," citing many examples. The HRC also called on the government to scrap the requirement that "new farmers" must contribute R5,000 to join the land redistribution programme because "so many homeless people cannot afford it." 922 land claims submitted by ethnic-Afrikaner and Asians... The report also notes a study by Potchefstroom and North West universities of 922 land claims submitted by ethnic-Afrikaner and ethnic-Asian South Africans who had lost their land during apartheid to create the ethnic-homelands with. Since this land now is completely occupied by many thousands of tribal families, the likelihood of these farmers ever getting this land back seem highly remote. But it's interesting to place on record that nearly a thousand farmers had already lost their land during apartheid, too... http://www.news24.com/Beeld/Suid-Afrika/0,,3-975_1371913,00.html

TRAUMA WORKSHOPS FOR FARM POPULATION - The farm attacks -- which have already targetted more than 25% of the Afrikaner-farm population -- has also prompted Agri-SA, Nissan-SA and Smartcom to create a fund to help the reformed church of south Africa set up a countrywide programme of trauma-treatment workshops. These are offered to farm attack victims and their family members, as well as social workers, police officers and ministers of religion who need advice on treating the often badly traumatised survivors. These are being conducted under the guidance of Dr Piet Joubert, Professor George Lotter ( http://www.puk.ac.za/pukdocs/law/law.html ) and postgraduate Gideon Botha http://www.puk.ac.za/opleiding/teologie/teologie.pdf of Potchefstroom University, Tel (018) 299 1847 - Fax (018) 294 8952 email: kwsgal@puknet.puk.ac.za.

20030613 - Thomas Ramsay, 56, murdered in farm attack (British citizen) near Nelspruit Nelspruit - June 12, 2003 -- Thomas Ramsay, 56, and his wife Beverly-Ann, 54, both British citizens who had rented a home on a farm in the sub-tropical Nelspruit region of South Africa, became the latest victims of the country's terrifying farm attack epidemic - and which international experts have started identifying as a deliberate genocide of the country's most visible and indeed its smallest ethnic minority: (see report: http://www.genocidewatch.org/BoersSlain01.htmMr Ramsay was murdered and Mrs Ramsay was badly traumatised from this vicious attack -- which occurred when they were ambushed inside their bedroom by four heavily-armed young African males. The couple had just returned to the rental house at about 9pm on Thursday night on a farm near Nelspruit. It's not at all clear why the attackers hadn't simply ransacked and robbed the place before the tenants' return: instead they had waited for the couple to come back, tied them up, ransacked the house and then stabbed Mr Ramsay to death. These kind of mysterious actions make the South African farm attacks stand out from the usual "crime-related robberies" seen in that crime-wracked country -- these attackers seemed to want to attack the people living on these farms, often waiting inside the farm houses to ambush them, with robbery clearly only a secondary motive. Since 1994, more than 25% of the commercial agricultural community in South Africa has already been targetted in more than 8,000 armed attacks, invariably carried out by young African males who were previously unknown to the victims. These attacks have also turned the South African farmer into the most-at-risk-of murder group in the entire world : they are being murdered at the rate of 313 per 100,000 according to both Interpol and the International Campaign to End Genocide. Local police superintendent Isak van Zyl confirmed this latest attack, as did Clive Hatch, a spokesman for the Democratic Alliance opposition party, who strongly condemned the attack on the British couple and has -- once again -- called for an urgent overhaul in all of the State's protection measures in all rural areas. Superintendent Van Zyl said Mr and Mrs Ramsay were attacked by the young African males inside their bedroom shortly after returning home at 21:00. The couple were both tied up before the attackers had ransacked the house -- and then, while Mr Ramsay was still tied up, totally defenceless -- was stabbed and killed. http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1373340,00.html

Arson, AK-47s used in ethnic murders of SA farmers Jun 13 2003 - Johannesburg, South Africa. Arson is being used increasingly as a tactic to lure farm owners from their houses -- to overpower and murder them with AK-47 military assault rifles. Boela Niemann of the 40,000-member Transvaal Agricultural Union (TLU) warned today of this new tactic in his retirement speech at the TLU's national priority committee for rural security. He also announced that retired SA major-general Chris van Zyl has now been appointed as the TLU's new manager for safety. The general formerly commanded the Western Province Military Command where troops were used to combat gang warfare on the Cape Flats, commanded the SADF's Regional Joint Task Force West and served on rural safety task forces in the northern Cape and Eastern Transvaal. Niemann said maj-gen Van Zyl will direct his experience and knowledge on tactical- and strategic defence levels to the benefit of all the TLU members. "The Transvaal Agricultural Union of South Africa has a responsibility towards all its members to protect their safety and property rights. The current security situation is very dangerous. The Union therefore decided to appoint the best man for the job. We are confident that Maj Gen van Zyl will contribute to the wellbeing of agriculture. http://www.tlu.co.za or http://www.rights2property.comNiemann said over the past few months, a dramatic increase has been noticed among the well-organised groups of young African male attackers which target the farms of their members in the use of AK-47 military assault rifles. "Although the use of these firearms in farm attacks decreased dramatically last year, in the past few months it has soared." These findings were announced only a day after Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula had claimed in parliament that farm attacks were only motivated by "the desire to rob". Agricultural organisations have reacted sharply to Nqakula's remarks - providing proof that robbery is not the primary motive for farm attacks. The TLU has warned farmers to be extremely careful this winter when the veld dries up -- because the attackers coften are known to torch the veld only to mount armed ambushes against the farm owners who rush out to try and douse the flames. Also, many fires are also being lit in sheds or storerooms to lure farmers out of their homes. Homesteads themselves are also increasingly being targetted by arson attacks, he said. Military expert Henri Boshoff of the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria confirmed that arson attacks were particularly prevalent on grain farms.

Susan Puren produced a programme about the SA farmers for Carte Blanche -- she was CNN's African journalist of the year 2002. While investigating the SA farm murder phenomenon she discovered that these more than 8,000 armed attacks by young, heavily-armed African males targetting the commercial farming community since 1994 --are officially labelled the "Boer Genocide" by the US-based-experts of the International Campaign against Genocide. Ms Puren's programme is scheduled for broadcasting this Sunday, June 22 on Carte Blanche: http://www.mnet.co.za/carteblanche/about/cbl_aboutus_team_puren.asphttp://www.mnet.co.za/carteblanche/

Vote of no-confidence in SA government: A recent poll on Carte Blanche asked the question whether "the SA government will be able to safeguard the country's farms against land grabs?" The replies were revealing: only 11.11% (92 internet users) voted "yes"-- and 88.89% (736) voted "no."

Vrede, OFS - June 11, 2003 -- The body of 41-year-old Afrikaner gardener Nicholas Goossen -- who had gone missing in Heidelberg last week -- was found on the farm Meadowbank near Vrede in the eastern Free State on Tuesday. Police constable Christopher Mophiring said Mr Goossen's throat had been slit and there was an open wound in his abdomen. Simon Mokoena, 20, Phillip Seretho, 24, and Joseph Motaung, 18, are remand prisoners who are scheduled to appear in Vrede magistrate's court on June 19. They had found by police driving a stolen car belonging to Kotie A Smith of Heidelberg.

Police still have to determine where the murder had taken place but last week Wednesday, Vrede residents had reported seeing a car with Gauteng licence plates driving around the area. The car had three black men and one white man in it. Goossen's body was discovered on the farm on Tuesday. Police established that the car had been stolen from Mr Smith in Heidelberg who had employed Mokoena and Goossen as itinerant gardeners. Police believe the "white man" seen in the car was Goossen. Mr Smith's car has now been returned to him.

The three men, who appeared in court on Tuesday, will appear in Vrede magistrate's court again on June 19

June 11 2003 -- PARLIAMENT, Cape Town. Christi van der Westhuizen of Beeld writes that the minister of safety and security Charles Nqakula has "promised urgent steps to prevent criminality from the illegal land occupations" after this recommendation was made by the committee investigating the farm attacks. He said this in parliament on Tuesday. He also revealed that he had now received what he called an "intermediate" report on the farm attack investigation commission from advocate Charl du Plessis -- the claimed results of which were however met immediately with scathing criticism by all three Afrikaner community leaders in parliament. In spite of reports by world's top genocide expert at the International Campaign against Genocide which in December last year labelled the SA farm attacks as downright genocide -- Nqakula once again repeated the tired, old ANC-claims that these farm attacks are merely motivated by plain old crime rather than any " organised campaign to chase Afrikaner farmers off their land." This comment was met with palpable derision by the Afrikaner leaders who listened to it with growing incredulity. Cassie Aucamp of the National Alliance, the Freedom Front's Pieter Groenewald and Dr Ferdi Hartzenberg of the Conservative Party of South Africa all were immediately dismissive of the minister's comments -- pointing out the many genocide-like features of the farm attacks which sets them apart from all other "normal robberies". South African farm attacks, they pointed out, were vastly different in many respects such as the great many hidious mutilations of peoplem, including even the smallest infants- and well as livestock; the long hours of torture and the huge number of rapes (more than 50%) which are being endured by the thousands of victims, together with the fact that very often, nothing much of value is really stolen in these well-organised armed attacks, carried out with such "barbarous ferocity."

Post-traumatic stress syndrome -- This terror targetting farmers has created such massive trauma among the entireAfrikaner agricultural community, of whom more than 25% have already suffered attacks over the past decade, that countrywide trauma treatment workshops have even had to be been set up to deal with it. Psychiatrists treating these farm attack victims also report unusually high levels of post-traumatic stress syndrome usually only seen in war-time soldiers. Pictures -- see some pictures of farm attacks: http://www.hnp.org.za/afrikaner/nov2k3/art.htmCP leader Dr Hartzenberg (contact: Tel: 012 329 1220, fax 012 329 1229 kpvansa@lantic.net) said this latest preliminary report was simply "unbelievable and undermines even more the trustworthiness of government statements and its increasingly faulty statistics, which are raising suspicion and causes a loss of government credibility."

He warned that this growing lack of credibility undermines investors' faith in the government. World's top genocide experts see the farm attacks as "Boer Genocide": Moreover, the world's top genocide experts at the International Campaign against Genocide last December also studied the farm attack phenomenon and concluded that the South African farm attacks are worrying signs of "an advanced stage of genocide which is not being widely noticed because it targets such a tiny ethnic community". Read the entire report on: http://www.genocidewatch.org/BoersSlain01.htmAnd the Freedom Front's Groenewald also questioned minister Nqakula's taking a full year to release this report if he had nothing to hide - since its findings would have been known throughout that time. Nqakula did admit in parliament yesterday however that "illegal land occupations of privately-owned farm land were identified as a "crime-risk" by the commission -- and "drastic steps must be taken to counteract this problem." Landless People's Campaigners -- Calling it a "crime risk" is a gross understatement of the overwhelming body of evidence in the killing fields of South Africa -- namely that a great many highly aggressive organisations, led by ANC-affiliated organisers such as Wellington Didibhuku Thwala of the Landless People's Campaign, Victor Thoka and Ishmael Lesufi of the Rural Action Groups and many other similar local grouplets who all are interlinked, have for the past decade been aggressively using thousands of desperately poor homeless families with which to invade farm land all over the country. Artificial "land disputes" - They thus force artificial "land disputes' and these homeless families are so poor that crime is a secondary result of these occupations: these families often start attacking, robbing and threatening the lives of farm owners and thus steadily terrorise them off their land. Formal policy -- their motto is "Land for those who work it, not just for those who can buy it"-- http://www.nlc.co.za/pubs2003/press-mar-20-trac-mpuma.htmThe minister now promised to hold urgent talks about the issue with agri-land affairs minister Thoko Didiza. But just after this statement, he also sounded a more ominous note, namely that the government was continuing with its plans to remove the farmers' last military defence, namely its commando system -- and that the regime had already launched a countrywide hiring drive for police reservists to replace the military-reservist commandos who have always traditionally guarded South African farms -- and are usually drawn from local volunteer members of the agricultural community itself who know local conditions the best. Land Affairs department very corrupt -- Human Rights commission: Meanwhile however Mrs Didiza appears to be having enough problems of her own. Journalist Cobus Grobler, also of Beeld, reports that the Human Rights Commission is very critical of the high-level corruption in this woman's department. The HRC warned that the excruciatingly slow pace in which she is actually carrying out the land reform process is having a "very detrimental effect." Mbeki's ongoing "land reform" programme basically involves buying up huge swathes of productive private farm land (usually with massive dollops of foreign donor funds) and carve these up into 1.5-hectare plots for "farms" to house agriculturally-inexperienced subsistence families on -- while more than a million State-owned land still remains fallow and unoccupied. Didiza's department's high-level corruption has only come to light now in the Human Rights Commission 's fourth report about economic and sociological rights between 2000 and 2002. They were highly critical of the culture of corruption, nepotism and downright sabotage which the reports writes is "rife among the officials in Didiza's land affairs department," citing many examples. The HRC also called on the government to scrap the requirement that "new farmers" must contribute R5,000 to join the land redistribution programme because "so many homeless people cannot afford it." 922 land claims submitted by ethnic-Afrikaner and Asians... The report also notes a study by Potchefstroom and North West universities of 922 land claims submitted by ethnic-Afrikaner and ethnic-Asian South Africans who had lost their land during apartheid to create the ethnic-homelands with. Since this land now is completely occupied by many thousands of tribal families, the likelihood of these farmers ever getting this land back seem highly remote. But it's interesting to place on record that nearly a thousand farmers had already lost their land during apartheid, too... http://www.news24.com/Beeld/Suid-Afrika/0,,3-975_1371913,00.html

TRAUMA WORKSHOPS FOR FARM POPULATION - The farm attacks -- which have already targetted more than 25% of the Afrikaner-farm population -- has also prompted Agri-SA, Nissan-SA and Smartcom to create a fund to help the reformed church of south Africa set up a countrywide programme of trauma-treatment workshops. These are offered to farm attack victims and their family members, as well as social workers, police officers and ministers of religion who need advice on treating the often badly traumatised survivors. These are being conducted under the guidance of Dr Piet Joubert, Professor George Lotter ( http://www.puk.ac.za/pukdocs/law/law.html ) and postgraduate Gideon Botha http://www.puk.ac.za/opleiding/teologie/teologie.pdf of Potchefstroom University, Tel (018) 299 1847 - Fax (018) 294 8952 email: kwsgal@puknet.puk.ac.za.

June 12 2003 -- POTGIETERSRUST -- The next trauma treatment workshop is offered at Mokopane (Potgietersrust on June 12 and others are still planned for Bellville, Pietermaritzburg, Kroonstad, Nelspruit en Kimberley. http://www.puk.ac.za/pukdocs/law/law.htmlhttp://www.akademie.co.za/referate.htmhttp://www.perspektief.com/newsletter.htmhttp://www.puk.ac.za/opleiding/teologie/teologie.pdfhttp://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1371331,00.htmlSugarcane farmers worried about Didiza's new land expropriation plans The Mail & Guardian also reports this week that South African sugarcane farmers are worried about the recent move by Didiza to expropriate land without any court orders in the amendment to the Restitution of Land Rights Act she introduced last month. The South African Cane Growers chairman Bruce Galloway warned in a speech on Wednesday that the amendments give Didiza sweeping powers and allow the acquisition and expropriation of land without the authority of a court order. "The sweeping nature of these powers being requested by the minister is creating anxiety among the farming community. This legislation could be misused," Galloway said. Under the present " land restitution " process, land is being redistributed under a willing buyer/willing seller open market principles. And to expedite these land claims, the Cane Growers' Association has even entered into a private-public partnership with the Land Claims Commission in KwaZulu-Natal. "Unfortunately, there has been an 'abysmal lack of delivery' by the Land Claims Commissioners' officers in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga," Galloway said. "We have met with the Land Claims Commissioners in Pietermaritzburg and in Nelspruit to discuss the issue of non-delivery. We have also recently had the opportunity to interact with the Director General of Land Affairs," Galloway said. Cane Growers' Association vice chair Tim Murray said that South African sugar farmers needed to focus on improving their efficiency to be globally competitive. Researchers now suggest that only Brazil, Australia, Thailand and partly South Africa will "withstand the wrath of a liberalised sugar industry," he added. "At the time of the study, South Africa had the advantage of lower wages as well as lower environmental and social standards," Murray said. The three major costs for sugar cane farmers are labour, fertilizer, and chemicals and cane transport. However, the recent introduction of the 'Sectoral Determination for Farmer Workers' mininum wages had focused attention on labour issues. And their overhead costs are also greatly raised by the the high level of HIV/Aids among farm workers, which is dropping productivity considerably. - I-Net Bridge http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=15626--- * Posted to CBSA Message Board ?/05/2003 Received from Adriana Stuijt (Censor Bugbear) - http://www.censorbugbear.com

Fochville NW - Three men were arrested on Tuesday night after an armed attack against Jacobus Geldenhuys, 69,and his wife Maria, 68. The attack was launched by a man who had pretended to be injured from an assault and asked for help. When the elderly Afrikaner farmer tried to help the man pulled a knife on him, two more men then emerged and forced Geldenhuys into his homestead. The elderly farmer and his wife were tied up with electrical cords. Geldenhuys managed to free himself and contacted the police.

A police vehicle on patrol in the vicinity of the farm was notified about the robbery. Police arrested three men, aged 19, 22 and 23. Police said stolen items have been recovered.

20030609 - Petrus (61) and Dawn Odendaal, (56) Kliprivier, survived farm attack on Kliprivier smallholding by two attackers - one man arrested: Afrikaner smallholders Petrus and Dawn Odendaal were attacked and severely beaten on their Kliprivier smallholding south of Johannesburg today by two armed young African males. One man has been arrested. The couple required medical treatment and are traumatised, but have survived their ordeal. http://www.sapa.org.za/public/browse.cfm?&category=%27A%27&agemax=d--- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 17/06/2003 Received from Adriana Stuijt (Censor Bugbear) - http://www.censorbugbear.com

20030609 Brits farmer charged with murder for defending maid from attacker A young unnamed, Afrikaner farmer from Brits, who shot a man who had been attacking one of his workers, has been charged with murder. Hearing a noise outside, the farmer went out and found a young aggressive African male at the servants' quarters who was trying to kill a female employee. The farmer knew that this man, a former boyfriend of the employee, had a previous history of molesting and severely injuring the young woman. The farmer, noticing that the former boyfriend was beating his employee most severely with a heavy iron rod pulled out his pistol and allegedly fired a shot towards the attacker. The man died and the farmer was arrested for saving his employee's life. http://www.sapa.org.za/public/browse.cfm?&category=%27A%27&agemax=d--- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 17/06/2003 Received from Adriana Stuijt (Censor Bugbear) - http://www.censorbugbear.com

By Anthony C. LoBaido - American journalist/author - who intends highlighting the secret and ongoing genocide of South Africa's professional farmers -- (for background report see: http://www.genocidewatch.org/BoersSlain01.htm by joining exiled South African Malcolm Wren (EngelseBoer@hotmail.com) on a protest trek crossing the width of southern England between July 27 and August 5.

anthonyc@webmail.co.za - cell phone South Africa 082-766-2584

Pretoria, South Africa -- June 9, 2003 -- "Life is a lot like poker. You can’t lose what you don’t put in the middle. But you know something? You can’t win much either. And now I am willing to bet all of my chips on the British Government, the ANC and President George Bush Jr. coming through to help the single greatest at risk of murder group on earth –the South African farmer.

Our old allies, the Afrikaners, who fought alongside the English during World War I and II, who came to the aid of South Korea in theKorean War, desperately need our help.

I have worked in over 40 nations as a journalist and a photographer, often helping the persecuted. I recall the words of Eric Roberts in the film The Coca-Cola Kid, in which a trouble-shooter for that American corporate giant says, “I decide who needs my help and how much of it they’ll get.” In the course of trying to bring Coca-Cola to a tiny town in the Australian Outback, the character played by Roberts destroys a small, local soda drink maker and eventually ignites a global war. This film serves two points in relation to the South African farmer.

The first is that America has the power to do almost anything it wants. This power can be used for either good or evil.

Second, the drive for global domination and “bigger is better” as exposed in the film can relate to the tragedy of empire building, wars of genetically engineered foods and riding roughshod over the rights, goals, hopes, dreams and aspirations of small groups who don’t fit into the “grand scheme” of transnational ambitions.

I can think of my own journalistic, military and adventure travels with the Karen of Burma, (in the way of the drug trade) the Hmong of Laos (we’ll get to them in a moment) and the Montagnards of Vietnam (Christians who sit amid the cocoa fields coveted by Nestle Corporation) who don’t fit into the “Greater Mekong Development Project,” which will link Southeast Asia as an economic block. In South Lebanon, the mostly Christian pro-Israel SLA didn’t fit into new Israeli-Palestinian peace initiatives and were left to the wrath of jihadists. and others. In South Sudan, the black animists and Christians sit on oil fields coveted by China and Talisman Energy of Canada, not to mention the sorgum used to make chewing gum and soda pop.

Opium, chocolate bars, chewing gum and Coca-Cola, not to mention oil to make our cars rev up and condoms roll down are stained with the blood of countless souls. The Kurds had a close call with British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s proposed dam and fresh water pipeline via North Cyprus to Israel, which would have flooded the Kurds out of their homeland in southern Turkey. One can’t forget the Tanzanite gems, stained with the blood of children digging for them in small tunnels.

However, I have never witnessed anything remotely approaching the horror which the South African farmer now faces. The same farmer who feeds southern Africa and asks for nothing more than to live in peace. This farmer is typified by the man who has patiently allowed 40,000 squatters to live on his land in Benoni/Gabon.

Over 1,450 out of 40,000 South African farmers have been killed since the ANC took power in 1994. There have been another 7000 attacks as well. Genocide Watch has issued its highest-level genocide alert for these farmers. (http://www.genocidewatch.org/BoersSlain01.htmSo, far the British government responded by sending Jack Straw to South Africa to hand over 30 million pounds to the ANC, part of which will be use for “land reform” and “justice.” (See “Straw tried to woo Africa” in the May 16 to 22, 2003 Mail & Guardian).

No mention at all by the British Foreign Office of the murders, in which children and babies are both raped and mutilated, as well as the elderlyl. Rarely is anything of value stolen. This is ethnic cleansing and politically motivated assault plain and simple. No mention of the murdered farmers either in NEPAD, the WSSD or the world racism summit.

In fact, no mention of them at all except for the “Kill the Boer! Kill the farmer!” chants heard from various quarters of the ANC – even at a high-level funeral.

Last year I had the opportunity to interview with the head of the South African television series Carte Blanche. During our talk, this person asked me for several story ideas. I mentioned my stories on China’s space tracking facility in Namibia, the CIA and FBI’s use of psychic spies in the war on terrorism and the farm killings in South Africa. The experienced Carte Blanche person expressed concern about the “paramilitary” tactics that Wynand Du Toit and the former Lanseria Protection services used to combat the farm rapes, murder and mutilation. As if normal people care how those desperately since inhuman beings who dare to rape and torture children are caught.

But, if that is a “legitimate” concern, let it be known that ex-South African SADF special forces soldier and Executive Outcomes operator Pieter Pienaar put a stop of all of this farm chaos in the town of Rhodes on the Lesotho border without firing a single shot. He and one other man -- Antonio Pessos -- took operational and security control of 1500 square kilometres by fixing the holes in the fence bordering Lesotho, required all migrant day workers pass through the official border checkpoint and set up a intelligence gathering network offering cash for information. Of the latter, this is how all police forces around the world operate. No “paramilitary tactics” to make us tremble.

Now, one can only wonder where the world community on the matter of the farm killings? Where is France? The country of Joan of Arc that sent in their military to airlift a road rally race out of Chad? Where is Germany, the country of Martin Luther, and once a friend of the Boer-Afrikaners? Where is the Pope? Where is President Bush Jr? Where is Tony Blair? Where are Al Sharpton and Oprah? Where is Bill Cosby? Where is Colin Powell? Where is Condi Rice? Where is J.C. Watts? Where is Congressman Ron Paul of Texas? Where is Pat Buchanan? Where is Pat Robertson? Where is Robin Cook and his “ethical foreign policy?” Where is Margaret Thatcher?

By their silence we must wonder if they are secretly cheering the slaughter on.

Condi Rice recently stood up to the Mainland Chinese general who threatened to launch a nuclear attack on Los Angeles, but she has been silent so far on the South African farm issue.Personally, I believe that Condi Rice could have tremendous influence on this issue.

I might be a person akin to “Joey” on Friends, you know that kind of person who hasn’t figured out how his electric can opener works, yet there can be no doubt that through a mixture of will, funding and encouragement, the British can make things right on South Africa’s farms. You remember them, don’t you Mr. & Mrs. Empire? They are the remnant of the 26,000 women and children that the British sent to death in the concentration camps of the Anglo-Boer War.

With the help of Australian soldiers like Breaker Morant, the Boer women and children were rounded up sacrificed to mercurial gods of Empire building. Breaker Morant was executed eventually -- perhaps because of the bad karma he had created.

I know that the elite forces of South Africa and the UK (Executive Outcomes, Sandline, DSL and others) can wipe out this problem in a matter of weeks. I’m not surprised by Mr. Pienaar’s success, because I know how 30 Executive Outcomes mercenaries held off 500 UNITA troops backed by Moroccan Special Forces at the battle of Quifi Quena. A battle that went beyond Black Hawk Down.

I know how the men from Sandline (fighting under a brave, non-racist and very experienced ex-Rhodesian/SADF special forces leader) pushed out the brutal, limb-hacking RUF rebels out from Sierra Leone in under a month. Those men were motivated in part by the horrendous child abuse the rebels were inflicting on the children of Sierra Leone by hacking off hands and feet. You see, all normal people detest the rape and mutilation of people – especially children and babies.

I know these things because I have spent the last four months interviewing Executive Outcomes and Sandline’s most elite forces about their feats for my upcoming book, “Executive Outcomes: The Untold Story.” The ANC used Executive Outcomes to vanquish their old enemy UNITA in Angola, so there can be no question that the ANC could enlist Pine Pienaar and his friends in fighting farm crime. As noted, there are legions of good men ready to protect the women, children and the elderly.

The only real question in the hearts of real men and women of faith is this, “Are Thabo Mbeki, Jack Straw and Tony Blair three of those men?”

To quote my old friend Jade, I’m positively “gobsmacked” that the British can’t step up for the South African farmers. You know, the same Boers who fought alongside them in both World War I and World War II, even after suffering through your concentration camps.

I know you are a fair man Mr. Blair – after all, you offered UNITAleader Jonas Savimbi asylum and the chance to keep some of his wealth back in 2000. He should have taken up your offer. When the British Empire speaks, people need to listen and tremble, not think of the Spice Girls – rather they should think of the Spice[r] boys.

Rallying to the cause of the South African farmers could be a great lift to the legacy of yourself Mr. Blair. You’ve led the UK through the internet boom years, the completion of the human genome, through 9-11 and Gulf War II. You haven’t made many mistakes, -- the Kurdish dam/fresh water pipeline fiasco and your mania to lower the age of consensual sex being two of the only low points that come to mind.

Roger Gale, the MP who defeated your wife for a seat in North Thanet,once told me that you Mr. Blair, are a “great deliverer of other people’s ideas.” But over the last few years, I have come to see you as much more than that. Ask yourself Mr. Blair, “What would Winston Churchill do? Would he allow South African farm children and babies to be raped and mutilated?”

For Thabo Mbeki, helping the South African farmers would be seen as both Christian and humanitarian in the greatest way imaginable. The ANC could once and for all forget the ugliness at the Mbokodo ANC camps in Angola during the Cold War. This is what Christ commands from all of us – to love our enemies. Yet children born years after the end of Apartheid are neither the enemies of the ANC or anyone else for that matter.

We are in a new era now. If racism ever dies, it will die one friendship at a time. We must fight back against our “enemies” only with love, not by returning wickedness. The Gospel is clear about this.

Not long ago, while speaking on “Africa Day” in Johannesburg, Mr. Mbeki spoke out the “demon of tribalism” for being the center point for conflict in Africa. Mbeki said, “Indeed, we cannot afford the slaughter of one African by another anywhere on our continent. Tutsi and Hutu are African. Hausa and Hyoruba are African. Nbebele and Shona are African. Zulu and Sotho are African.” (See “End Demon of tribalism –Mbeki” in the May 26th, 2003 edition of The Star).

But what about Africa’s white tribe, Mr. Mbeki? Doesn’t their spilled blood count in your book?

I love South Africa and I love the British people. After training with the RGBW, an ancient and renowned British Army unit in the jungles of Central America during one of my many adventures, I came away with great respect for the professionalism and esprit de corp of the British soldiers. And surely if the British can be involved in Sierra Leone’s diamond fields on behalf of Tony Buckingham and Sandline, they can tell Mr. Straw to make the ANC do a better job of protecting South Africa’s farmers.

I know this can be done.

Consider the plight of the Hmong of Laos. Back in 1999, 35,000 Hmong were about to be sent back to Laos from Thai refugee camps at gunpoint by the United Nations. The Hmong had helped America during the Vietnam War, fighting in CIA special forces units to take out Soviet and Chinese supplies on the Ho Chi Min trail. The Hmong gave up their lives, wives, children, farms and peaceful way of life to do this. But America lost that war and many Hmong were left behind. Women were thrown off of cliffs and babies were bashed against trees by the Stalinist Pathet Lao regime. This tragedy was all well documented. Dr. Weldon and Jane Hamilton-Merritt being the most heroic defenders of the Hmong.

I was only one journalist back then, as I am now. I thought; “What can Anthony LoBaido do alone?”

I contacted the U.S. operations command in Hawaii. No luck there. I then called on the special forces at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. I eventually talked with the heroic Colonel David Hackworth and was referred to Major Carl Bernard, who was the first Green Beret on the ground in Laos to train the Hmong in 1963 – Operation White Star.

I was told to go to Laos, gather intelligence and take photos. I said, “I have to go alone?” My advisors said, like characters in some Jean-Claude Van Damme movie; “Yes you must go alone. You are the only one who can do it.”

This was what I had been waiting for all of my life -- as a journalist, as a patriotic American, as a man and even as a flawed Christian. I wanted to make my beloved and late parents proud of me. But soon, there was only one reason for going – the Hmong children.

I gathered intelligence at the refugee camps. I then flew to the capitol of Laos. I went to the Plain of Jars and Luang Prabang. I took a plethora of relevant photos. There were all kinds of Stalinist signs and rules and informants around Laos. The special forces told me, “If the Pathet Lao even for one second, suspect who you are and what you are doing they will kill you.”

I returned from Laos to my base in Thailand. I was so sick from the trip with 103 degree fever, projectile vomiting, dysentery and all the other joys of malaria. I would lay in bed most of the day, then drink orange juice and go to the email café to write the series, “Apocalypse Now for the Hmong,” which was published on WorldNetDaily.com and now has five million readers per month.

Then the loyal American special forces put their power in motion. Major Bernard held hearings in Congress with Congressman Ben Gilman of the House Intelligence Committee. The late Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota stepped up to bat for the Hmong who are heavily constituted in his state. In due course, then-President Clinton signed an Executive Order giving the 35,000 Hmong trapped in Thailand visas to the U.S. Mr. Clinton even waved their English language requirement. The Hmong rode out of the jungle to freedom, escaping the murderous Pathet Lao. Whenever I picture the helicopters and elephants I always manage to smile.

I still get letters from Hmong children in the U.S. My favorites are the ones written by No M. Her and others saying; “thank you for saving us.” The Prince of Laos, exiled in France even wrote to me personally to thank me.

I mention this only to say that I know that with courage, faith, action and God’s help, miracles are possible. Even for flawed people like LoBaido. As Anthony LaPaglia said in 29th Street while praying to God, “I know I’m not one of your favorite people…I’ve done some bad things here and there…”

There are three choices available for the South African farmer vis-à-vis the international community. First. Visas overseas for the persecuted South African farmers to the UK, U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Holland and Germany. Belize, the former British Honduras, could welcome the farmers just as it has welcomed its thriving Mennonite community. Just as this writer and former President Clinton worked together to save the Hmong, and just America recently transplanted and entire 12,000 strong Somali Bantu tribe from Kenya to U.S. soil, so too can and must America act now to save the South African farmers. If the ANC wants the South African farmers gone, then as Moses once told the pharaoh; “let my people go.” A multitude of South Africans have fled the nation, the farmers can’t carry their farms on their backs overseas.

Second. The ANC and British Government must accept and fund Pienaar’s philosophy and allow it to be duplicated, at least in part, all around South Africa’s agricultural community. The ANC can allow this philosophy and its accompanying tactics to be used as a way to make the new commando structure in South Africa more effective. “Remember Rhodes” should be our new mantra. The town, not Cecil. We should have zero tolerance for even one more farm killing. The children and babies must be protected and not even breathed on wrong. As mentioned, the ANC used Executive Outcomes when it suited them. The expertise of men like Pienaar cannot go to waste.

Additionally, during this transition of the commandos, we must sanely remember that they were never a threat to the ANC. The hard line generals who would not have gone along with the F.W. De Klerk handover of power to the ANC were purged from the SADF years before 1993, probably in 1989. The compromise MK and the SADF regarding the commando structure made during the CODESA era was a step in the right direction. This 54,000 force, of which 20,000 are people of colour, including Africans, can be turned into an effective crime fighting force under the direction men like Pienaar.

Let’s forget the term “right-wing” – please. First, it is essentially a Marxist term. Secondly, many of the elite special forces from the old SADF Reconnaissance regiments went to Angola during the 1994 elections to do the ANC’s dirty work of finishing off UNITA by fighting with Executive Outcomes. In fact, in April of 1993, Joachim David, the head of Angola’s state oil company SONONGOL, asked two representatives of Executive Outcomes if the entire 32 Battalion and their families would move to Angola and join up with MPLA/FAA. (you’ll have to read my book). Why wasn’t the MPLA concerned about the “right-wing?” They wanted the entire 32 Battalion AND the Reconnaissance Wing to join them. And the ANC is afraid of right-wingers in the rural commandos? Or does the ANC just want to strip away the last vestige of protection the farmers have left?

What’s to fear from old ideologies that left the stage along with De Klerk and Gorbachev? What about those who led the 1914 Rebellion. Do they still frighten you? What about the prophecies of Seer Van Rensberg and “the man in the brown suit” – the future leader of the Boer nation that “is still to come.” Is that why the police were set upon 70-something year-old Adrian Snyman, author of “Voice of a Prophet?” Is the ANC that worried about the Boers that they have to cheer on the mutilation and rape of their children and babies? I mean how many times does Eugene Terreblanche have to fall off of his horse before everyone knows “it’s over?”

Can I tell you a secret? We all just want a “normal life.” No one wants more bombings – not even the so-called “right wing.” Bombs are a bad sign though, as the ANC well knows from its liberation struggle – bombs mean that people no longer feel that they are able to speak freely and have their issues taken seriously. It means they have lost hope. Normal people eschew bombs. What we need is a P-4 substitute of leadership, courage and new and innovative ways of tackling South Africa’s problems.

In the end, the commandos are the same structures Winston Churchill so admired that he named the World War II forerunner of the British SAS after them. Yet can you blame any normal South African commando member in 2003 for being upset at the treatment of South Africa’s farmers and their families?

Yes, there is real evil out there. It is the same evil that did in poor Stephen Biko. The same evil we saw at Vlakplaas and at the ANC’s Quatro/Mbokodo camps. It is the evil we read about in James 4:4 and the evil of Cain and Able.

But the evil is not in the commandos or the farmers they poorly “defend,” yet rather this evil resides in the vicious killers attacking the farms – the weak ones who have left God out of their hearts. Those who prey upon the farm-based aged, children and babies are truly the world’s only living heart donors.

Third. The British Government must make sure that the occupants at Shell House and within the PAC and AZAPA are told straight out that the farm attacks are now a thing of the past, just in case there is any confusion on the fringes. There are more than a few rumors from the police that several farm attackers confessed they received their orders from Shell House.

Remember when Thabo Mbeki recognized the Zimbabwe election and Tony Blair gave him a day or so to reverse his decision – under the threat of de-funding. ---

20030601 Mrs Anna Vorster, 52, Sandheuwel, Wesselsbron - found bound, injured in tub, survives farm attack, her dogs killed - two men arrested. Welkom - Sunday, June 1 2003 -- Free State police inspector Nelius Rheder sped to his mother-in-law's farm Sandheuwel near Wesselbron on Sunday morning after he had called her on the phone and a male stranger's voice had answered, northern Free State police reported. Captain Rosa Benade said Inspector Rheder, stationed in Wesselsbron, called his mother-in-law, Anna Vorster, 52, at about 10:00 am. Vorster and her husband, Frikkie, live on the farm Sandheuwel in the Wesselsbron district. Mr Vorster was not at home on Sunday morning. The phone was answered by a strange voice and Rheder's suspicions were aroused. He alerted his colleagues and they drove to the farm, but found the doors of the house locked. Benade said the policemen entered the house through the garage and found Mrs Vorster in the bath, covered in blood with her hands tied behind her back. She said two men had got into the house andtied Vorster up and robbed her. She had suffered injuries to her wrists and her right leg. Some of the blood found on her may also have come from a knife the men had used to allegedly kill the woman's dogs, Benade said. Several police units, assisted by two private aircraft belonging to local farmers, mounted a search in the area. At 15:00 police arrested two men on a road about 10km outside Wesselsbron. Two weapons were confiscated. http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1367604,00.html--- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 17/06/2003 Received from Adriana Stuijt (Censor Bugbear) - http://www.censorbugbear.com

Attackers of Saamstaan dairy farm in Kraaifontein arrested by major family effort! - May 28 2003 at 10:30AM -- IOL - KRAAIFONTEIN -- The term "Saamstaan" took on a more profound meaning for the Tolken and the Engelbrecht families on Tuesday-afternoon -- after the chance sighting of a stolen farm bakkie had led to the arrest of all but one of four armed farm attackers -- who had just been fleeing from Saamstaan dairy farm, rented and run by 69-year-old Jan Tolken and his wife Rhyne, 65. Purely by chance, the four strangers in his father-in-law's bakkie had been spotted by their son-in-law André Engelbrecht -- who immediately called his wife Renana. She just happens to be a police captain at nearby Kuilsrivier police station and within minutes police had closed off the R300 at the Delft exit and had set up a roadblock to capture the culprits. A police helicopter was also summoned. The drama started at about 1.30pm on Tuesday when Tolken was held up at gunpoint on the rental farming property named "Saamstaan". Poole said the robbers had posed as milk-buyers. They had tied up the Tolken couple, ransacked the house and carried off their loot in Tolken's farm bakkie. All of it was recovered. Engelbrecht had also alerted his wife's brother, Riaan Tolken, who had been playing golf at the nearby Kuilsrivier golf course -- and who had rushed to his parents' aid immediately. Arriving at the farm only minutes after the attack, he untied his father and mother, and, armed with his licensed rifle, they all drove along the R300 in his bakkie, searching for the robbers. Poole said as the suspected robbers approached the roadblock, police fired three warning shots. The bakkie stopped, and three men - aged 32, 40, and 42 - were arrested. One suspect fled. A police helicopter was called in to find him and a police dog was used to search for him in a nearby bush, but by late last night he was still at large. A 9mm pistol, which was apparently used in the robbery, was recovered in a bush about 100m from where the suspects were arrested. "We are glad that my parents are alive and for the wonderful efforts made the police," said Riaan Tolken at the roadblock. Now there's a family who knows from Saamstaan... http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=13&art_id=vn20030528103006379C894139&set_id=1--- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 17/06/2003 Received from Adriana Stuijt (Censor Bugbear) - http://www.censorbugbear.com

Lone woman's 24-gang rape ordeal on sugar estate -- to "cure eight rapists of hiv-Aids" - MAY 28 2003 -- AMATIKULU SUGAR MILL -- A 32-year-old KwaZulu-Natal woman was repeatedly raped for 24 hours by a gang of eight men who not only told her they wanted to cure themselves of hiv-Aids by raping her -- but had even viciously taunted her, telling her she was going to die because they were all infected with HIV. Adding to the terrifying 24-hour ordeal this woman has had to suffer at the hands of these eight vicious males, now is the agonising wait of finding out whether she too had contracted hiv-Aids from the mass rape. The woman was attacked by the vicious male gang while walking home from a friend's house through a sugarcane field near the Amatikulu Sugar Mill on the North Coast. Ripping her clothes from her body, each of the men took turns to rape, sodomise and beat her viciously while she screamed out in terror and pleaded for her life.

She was lucky that the police had found the bleeding woman as she had stumbled from the fields and onto an accident scene just metres from where she was attacked. She was immediately able to identify one of her rapists when she pointed him out in the crowd of onlookers. Sources close to the investigation said the man was found with blood and semen smeared on his pants. A manhunt has been launched for the seven other rapists. Police Captain Musa Khaba said the arrested man appeared for a remand date on the local law court on Wednesday. Jackie Branfield of the Action Desk for Abuse Against Women and Children, asked to comment, confirmed that "There are men infected with the Aids virus who believe this complete myth that by raping a virgin they will be cured of the deadly disease.." page 3 of The Daily News on May 27, 2003 http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=15&art_id=vn20030527132356362C895450&set_id=1

To: leader@da.org.za Dear Mr Leon - From Adriana Stuijt Telephone (country: 31) 519 562 164 As a retired SA medical journalist (ex Rand Daily Mail, Sunday Times, Argus and SAPA) I have grown increasingly concerned about the Zimbabwe-type farm-violence situation which seems to be developing in South Africa. My initial incredulity at this steady stream of personal reports i started getting from many friends back home -- about the many murderous attacks against South African farmers -- quickly changed once I started checking out these reports more carefully, albeit from the comfort and safety of my easy chair here in The Netherlands I remain totally unable to imagine what it must be like to go about one's daily duty as a farmer in South Africa these days. Since this (current) 40,000 group of mainly Afrikaner farmers now also is the only remaining professionally-organized group of excess-food producers left to feed the entire 43-million or so residents of South Africa -- I have also been totally unsurprised about the developing famine conditions due to not only "draughts" or "floods" which have always been there -- but mainly by the drop in commercial food production -- and not only in neighbouring Zimbabwe, but also now propping up in specific South African regions where the farm attacks have also been at their most ferocious over the years, such as the Eastern Cape. To me it is not at all a pure coincidence that the government's supplemental feeding schemes for famished families had to be launched precisely where the vast majority of commercial farmers have also left primarily due to the violence targetting their families. In Southern Africa, whenever mother Nature hiccups just a tiny bit, the traditional tribal farmers'abilities to produce excess food even for their own subsistence always drops within just one season. That's why South Africa's need for the skills of commercial farming to tide them over these bad years always remain so important. But the picture which has now emerged over these past three years for me, is that specific groups of armed attackers have apparently decided to start killing off and terrorizing the country's only truly efficient food producers altogether. It makes no sense, but there '; those annoying facts staring you in the face. I have also become convinced that the my colleagues in the SA news media are dealing with the news surrounding these farm attacks in about the same way most SA journalists treated all those horrid torture incidents and vicious murder attacks targetting activists during the apartheid years -- and when all those Third Force rumours were also so persistently being denied. We all know the truth today, at least I hope we do. We 've heard enough testimony about it in the Truth and Reconciliation commission to convince me that a third force had indeed existed to kill certain political segments of the population, in other words carrying out Politicide. It is rather startling now to read on the international police website of Interpol that the SA farmers actually have also become the most-targetted-for-murder group of people in the world, at the rate of 313 for 100,000 population group, and South Africa's poor, besieged police the second-most targetted-for murder at about 187 per 100,000. Consider the fact that most farmers now are forced to go about unarmed -- they have to keep their firearms in a safe due to these exceedingly stringent new gun laws -- and that policemen are going about pursuing criminals, it's a rather strange situation. And I am truly terrified when reading that more than 50% of these attacked farm dwellers also are often raped, and 30% undergo various forms of deliberate mutilation or extensive torture. One wonders why this particular violence targetting Afrikaner farm families is being perpetrated with such curiously intense ferocity, especially when similar events do not occur with a similar level of viciousness against most other attack victims in South Africa, perhaps with the exception of "muti victims". The fact that the SA Police investigation commission into the causes of these farm attacks has still not been published -- it was due, I note on the SA Police website, at the end of December 2002 -- and the fact that less than 15% of the farm attacks I have personally received reports about are even reported to the SA news media at the moment, are both indications that something is really very badly wrong here. SA Police security advice to farmers in 2002 - is this any way to have to do your job? http://www.saps.org.za/rural/actnow.htmhttp://www.saps.org.za/rural/index.htmWhy should I even care from so far away -- you might say -- since I am safely retired etc. However, there's an issue here which won't let me rest until I find out the truth though, and that is the issue of fairness. When the Afrikaner community relinquished its hegemony of South Africa, it did so with sincerity -- and in the firm belief that the very clear promises made to their leaders, including F W de Klerk, of safety and security for the Afrikaner minority would be assured under majority-rule. In turn, the Afrikaner community has apologised profoundly, repeatedly, and many of its members have accepted their punishment in South African jails for their role in suppressing the majority during apartheid - including that mysterious group of murderers which turned out to be all to real.Now it's nine years later, yet the mysterious killings and campaigns of terror have not stopped -- this time the targets are Afrikaner landowners, their workers and families. And I am not the only foreigner to notice this strange anomaly: the expert analyst who works for the International Human Rights Court's Genocide Watch group, has also noticed it independently and published a report about it at the end of 2002. The report can be found on their website at: http://www.genocidewatch.org/BoersSlain01.htmHe describes the Afrikaner farmers as "Boers" since this seems to be the internationally-most understood ethnic description of this minority. (Your party uses the generic term of "whites" which by the way I find harks back rather unpleasantly to the apartheid-era we would all are working so hard to try and forget.) I noticed that your party has forwarded a Bill to amend section 1 (xi) of the Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act, (PIE) No. 19 of 1998 in order to also provide better protection to South Africa's land owners. Does your party however support Pres. Mbeki's proposal however to phase out the 65,000-member military commando system which now does a reasonably good job of protecting rural dwellers, seeing as how poorly equipped and underfunded they also are -- and to replace this group with regular police over the next few years? The present police force is already exceedingly poorly funded, undertrained, and also targetted for what appears to be a deliberate murder campaign -- so I cannot imagine them being able to do nearly as good a job as the commandos are doing. Why is Pres. Mbeki so keen to remove this protection force from the countryside? Surely he must be aware that more than half of South Africa's original number of 80,000-some excess professional food-producers have already vacated the agri-sector permanently, mainly due to this terrifying campaign of violence against them -- and that thousands of farmers are up for sale and thus remain totally uinproductive, and more than 150,000 farm workers have already lost their jobs and in many cases, the homes provided them and their families on the farms? I have endeavoured to maintain a list of known names of the murder victims since 2000: as follows, which I have perused from a huge variety of sources, from personal accounts by survivors, to ambulance drivers, policemen, neighbours and undertakers, dominees... The SA Police hardly ever releases news about farm attacks -- through no fault of their own -- and since I am determined to keep this up, I have built up a network of about 250 proven trustworthy people who send me information about this. in 2003: http://groups.msn.com/AdrianaStuijtsjournalismduringapartheidsite/safarmattackdeaths2003.msnwin 2002: http://groups.msn.com/AdrianaStuijtsjournalismduringapartheidsite/southafricanfarmattackdeaths2002.msnwin 2001: http://groups.msn.com/AdrianaStuijtsjournalismduringapartheidsite/farmmurderswebsitelinks.msnwSAP 's last published report on Farm Attacks: http://www.saps.org.za/8_crimeinfo/farm99/index.htmSA Police report, 1998: The SA Police then still defined "attacks on SA farms and smallholdings" as: "acts aimed against the person of residents, of workers at and/or visitors to farms or smallholdings, whether with the intent to murder, rape, rob or inflict bodily harm (EXCLUDING cases related to domestic violence, drunkenness or resulting from commonplace social interaction between people - where victims and offenders are often known to one another). Farm attacks are referred to "all actions aimed at disrupting farming activities as a commercial concern, whether for motives related to ideology, labour disputes, land issues, revenge, grievances or racist concerns, like eg intimidation." http://www.saps.org.za/8_crimeinfo/farm/index.htmNedbank Rural Protection Plan 2000: http://www.iss.co.za/Pubs/CRIMEINDEX/00VOL4NO3/protectionplan.html--- * Posted to CBSA Message Board ?/06/2003 Received from Adriana Stuijt (Censor Bugbear) - http://www.censorbugbear.com

20030527 Westerberg, Roland and Jeanette, farm couple, killed REGION UNKNOWN. DATE OF MURDERS UNKNOWN. Shot in their sleep. Arrested: 19-year-old son Lloyd. Not asked to plead in UNKNOWN court on May 29, 2003 -- June 5 bail hearing Source of this vague information: SABC: http://www.sabcnews.com/south_africa/crime1justice/0,1009,59408,00.html--- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 04/06/2003 Received from Adriana Stuijt (Censor Bugbear) - http://www.censorbugbear.com20021213 - Nic and Rula Katoni, 67, smallholders, Muldersdrift, found murdered 20030521 - on trial for their murder: Johanna M Kwinda, her son Petrus Nyeke, William M Makhiti, and Ntsukeni T Nevhulamba, Jhb High Court: Petrus, the son of Johanna Manikye Kwinda, 49, a domestic worker charged together with his mother and two other men with the murder of her employers, claims that police "assaulted him for no apparent reason" during his arrest. Petrus was testifying at a trial-within-a-trial in the Johannesburg High Court on Tuesday, in which all four accused have denied killing pensioner-smallholders 78-year-old Nic Katoni and his wife Rula, 67, of Muldersdrift, on December 13, 2001. The elderly couple's charred remains were found in a ditch on a smallholding next to the R28 near Muldersdrift. Their bodies were found covered with burnt-out tyres, a car bonnet, branches and rocks. The two Kwindas, William Mukondeleli Makhithi, 29, and Ntsukeni Thomas Nevhulamba, 43, were arrested a few days later. Petrus Kwinda said he was assaulted and sustained a cut above his eye and was pushed against a wall and tortured in his private parts at his arrest and at Roodepoort police station. In addition to two counts of murder, the four also face charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances and illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition. During cross-examination by the state prosecutor, advocate Karin Steyn, Kwinda said that during his arrest at his plot on December 15, 2001, police officers assaulted him severely without saying anything. He told the court that he was then taken to Roodepoort police station, where police officers continued to assault him. Steyn contested Kwinda's version, arguing that if he had indeed been assaulted, he would have reported the matter and not come up with "a story" in court. The trial continues in Johannesburg High Court. This article was originally published on page 2 of The Star on May 21, 2003 http://www.iol.co.za--- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 17/06/2003 Received from Adriana Stuijt (Censor Bugbear) - http://www.censorbugbear.com

Good news ! Woman victim NOT arrested for murdering attempted rapist in sugarcane field! 20030520 - KZN - Unnamed man, 36, killed by woman farm worker during rape attempt in Scottburgh sugar cane field - Scottburgh - May 20 2003 -- An unnamed 36-year-old woman farmworker has killed a man who she claimed had attacked and attempted to rape her in a sugarcane field in Scottburgh on Monday. Police found in the dead man's possession a rope tied into a noose and a half-brick - his plan must have been to kill the woman. Police superintendent Zandra Hechter said the woman had been "brave" as she had killed the man "in an attempt to save herself." She said the woman was walking home next to the N2 near Scottburgh when the unknown man had accosted her from a sugar cane field and threatened her with a knife. Double justicial standards -- -- This case shows up the double standards being maintained in the SA justice system -- and I hasten to add that it is of course entirely correct that this victim should not ever be arrested for having had to defend herself. However -- South African police often are seen to arrest and charge Afrikaner crime victims on charges of murder etc. after they had also been forced to kill to save their own lives, often in these kind of farm attacks: http://www.genocidewatch.org/BoersSlain01.htmhttp://www.100megspop2.com/crimebusters/FarmVictims.html

May 20, 2003 -- Mrs Sannie van Vuuren, 82, has lost all her family belongings -- including valuable antiques which had been collected over the past 63 years -- during an arson attack which completely gutted the Boer homestead this weekend. The family pet dog, Vlekkie, was found dead in a bathroom and a flock of sheep has also disappeared. Police suspect that the arsonists would have had to break open a window and then force their way through a barred door to gain access to the homestead.

Supt. Louis Jacobs of the Mooirivier area said this is the first time in this region that an arson attack has occurred at a farm. There had also been a burglary at the farm Holfontein, belonging to Hennie Pieterse, over the same weekend during which clothes had been stolen. The Pieterse family had been away attending their mother's funeral. Source... http://www.news24.com/Beeld/Suid-Afrika/0,,3-975_1361783,00.htm--- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 20/05/2003 Received from Adriana Stuijt (Censor Bugbear) - http://www.censorbugbear.com

May 19, 2003 -- NORTHWEST PROVINCE - The corpse of 33-year-old Mashihe Lasse, of Remhoogte smallholdings near Skeerpoort, was found dumped near Hartbeespoortdam in NorthWest on Saturday. Police are searching for the murderers of the smallholder, who was apparently beaten to death enroute through a maize field near his home at about 4pm on Saturday. Police insp. Phoeboe Moseki said the suspects were driving a grey FWD-bakkie. An eye witness told police having seen Lasse's body being dumped near his home.

SA gov. news media ignore farm murder 20030517 - Conrad Frederik Hattingh, 40, Boons, NW, mowed down in hail of bullets May 17 2003 - Within hours of ANC-stalwart Walter Sisulu having been laid to rest during a taxpayer-funded State funeral at a Soweto cemetery, 40-year old Afrikaner farmer Conrad Frederick Hattingh was mowed down in a hail of bullets on his farm Boons, in North West province. Hattingh's lifeless body showed at least five bullet-entry and exit points. A witness told police he had heard shots and saw Hattingh's distraught wife run from the house screaming. Police captain Gabashane Moseki said no-one has been arrested. At least five attackers had been involved but witnesses only saw two men actually fleeing. News censorship - This latest farm attack in this province, which last month was still visited by President Thabo Mbeki who had once more even promised the district's besieged farmers better security, was not reported by the government-controlled broadcaster SABC. Also, the next day, Afrikaans Sunday newspaper Rapport also failed to report this farm attack - even though it occurred at about 4pm, long before their publication deadline of 10pm. Rapport did run a report about the Church Street bomb attack in Pretoria twenty years ago --interviewing the ANC leader who had planned the suicide-bombing, as well as its survivors alike and it is heartening to note that even though many were left maimed and permanently traumatised, everybody has forgiven everybody... http://www.news24.com/Rapport/Nuus/0,,752-795_1361153,00.htmlhttp://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1361064,00.htmlAlso on this same day, five men were arrested in Soweto for the murder of smallholder Pierre Grobbelaar, 54 of Benoni on Worker's Day. The Afrikaner smallholder was shot defending his elderly father from being murdered. The five suspects are expected for a remand court date in Benoni on Monday. http://www.news24.com/Beeld/Randse_Beeld/0%2C4127%2C3-68_1360565% 2C00.html --- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 19/05/2003 Farmer dies in hail of bullets 17/05/2003 20:49 - (SA)

Rustenburg - A 40-year-old farmer from Koperfontein near Boons in the North West Province was shot dead on Friday, police said.

Initial reports said Conrad Frederik Hatting was at his gate at 16:45 when he was approached by two men - at least one of whom may be known to the family.

A witness told police he heard shots and then saw Hatting's wife run from the house screaming. The safe was found open and two guns, a pistol and .38 special, were missing.

Police spokesperson Gabashane Moseki said Hatting had been shot at least five times in different parts of the body and that the attackers were still at large.

May 17 2003 - Within hours of ANC-stalwart Walter Sisulu having been laid to rest during a State funeral at a Soweto cemetery, 40-year old Afrikaner farmer Conrad Frederick Hattingh was mowed down in a hail of bullets on his farm Boons, in North West province. Hattingh's lifeless body showed at least five bullet-entry and exit points police said. A witness told police he had heard shots and saw Hattingh's distraught wife run from the house screaming. Police captain Gabashane Moseki said no-one has been arrested. News censorship - This latest farm attack in this province is particularly poignant. Only last month, President Thabo Mbeki had still visited this crime-ridden district and had, once again, promised its increasingly besieged farmers vast improvements in security.

Interesting too was that this farm attack was not reported on the same day it had occurred by the government -controlled broadcaster SABC nor by the Afrikaans-language Sunday newspaper Rapport even on the following day - even though their publication deadline was still a full six hours away after the attack had been reported.

Rapport did however run a heart-rending report about the ANC's courageous Church Street suicide bomb attack in Pretoria twenty years ago --interviewing not only the ANC leader who had planned the "campaign" from Swaziland, but also some survivors, including a black newspaper vendor and an Afrikaans dominee who had been partially blinded by it.

It is so truly wonderful to note that even though this vicious bombing had caused the permanent maiming and traumatising of so many people -- there now is such aan all-encompassing spirit of forgiveness from all sides... Or is there?

http://www.news24.com/Rapport/Nuus/0,,752-795_1361153,00.htmlhttp://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1361064,00.html--- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 14/05/2003 Received from Adriana Stuijt (Censor Bugbear) - http://www.censorbugbear.comPolice have no docket on Burgersdorp farm attack: 20030510 - Ronnie Roberts, 69, farm Nomga, Burgersdorp East Cape - seriously injured from vicious stabbing by 2 men. http://www.news24.com/Die_Burger/Nuus/0,,4-75_1358262,00.htmlMarieta du Plessis and Henry Diedericks report from Burgersdorp that 69-year-old farmer Ronnie Robert's clothes had been cut off his body and he was stabbed repeatedly with a knife during a vicious farm attack here on Friday-night. The local farming community is in an uproar about the botched police investigation which followed -- in which police not only got lost on their way to the attacked farm, but also responded very slowly and then did not even bother to open an investigation docket. Mr Roberts is in very serious condition in Frere-hospital in East London. He was attacked at his farm gate by two armed men who ambushed his vehicle.

Local agricultural unions threaten to take the botched police investigation "to the highest level" because local police's casual, lax response. Mrs Roberts, who had driven through the farm gate seperately, followed by her husband's vehicle shortly thereafter, said she had been unaware that her husband was ambushed by two men who beat him with a pipe and had also stabbed him. Three ribs are broken, he has a collapsed lung, severe injuries to his stomach and colon. She said in their frenzied attack the attackers had stabbed repeatedly at his body to slash off the old man's clothes away and even had torn off his shoes. Strangely for a supposed "robbery" however -- they had merely parked the farmer's bakkie to block the farm road and thrown away the keys. They had not "robbed" the farm vehicle before fleeing. The badly injured, traumatised farmer had to walk back to his homestead for 1,5-km through the cold night. His neighbour Ponkie Joubert, and the local deputy chairman of the farmer's union George Hayter, former commandant of the Burgersdorp commando, were furious about the police's slow reaction time. It took them more than half-an-hour to respond, yet the farm is only 11-km away from town, said Joubert. Yet Captain Jackson Tia the head of the regional crime prevention team who is at the Burgersdorp charge office, said there was no police docket about the alleged farm attack at all. The station commander superintendent Xolile Somdaka also confirmed that "no farm attack docket has been opened here." http://www.news24.com/Die_Burger/Nuus/0,,4-75_1358262,00.html--- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 07/05/2003 Animal-lover beaten to death 07/05/2003 10:11 - (SA Liela Magnus

Cullinan - An elderly Boekenhoutkloof man's love for animals apparently led to his death after a man out on parole allegedly beat him to death with a broken bottle and a couple of stones.

When he was told that a buck had got caught in a fence, the animal-lover went to see if he could free it - and unwittingly gave his alleged killer the chance to get him alone.

The man suspected of killing Jacobus Nicolaas "Wessie" van der Westhuizen, 74, was arrested on a neighbouring smallholding about an hour after the attack.

Apparently, he was wearing Van der Westhuizen's clothes and shoes. His own blood-stained clothes had been shoved into a plastic bag.

The suspect was released in January. He had been found guilty in 1995 of burglary and theft and sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment.

Van der Westhuizen's wife, Anna, 68, said she found it difficult to understand how her husband's "kindness" could have led to his death.

That is what drew her to him years ago, she said. In December, they had celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

Van der Westhuizen's attacker apparently told him a buck had been caught in a fence. Van der Westhuizen took pliers, a wirecutter and a whip to free it.

Threatened his wife with a knife

His son-in-law, Willie Kraft, said they thought the attacker had used a bottle to attack Van der Westhuizen, who had tried to defend himself.

He told her the buck had been killed when she asked him why there was blood on his clothes.

After she gave him the knife, he grabbed her and demanded R30.

He threatened to kill her and fled with about R18, clothes and two watches.

Louis Meintjes, chairman of the Cullinan region's agriculture union, said that when he arrived at the smallholding minutes after the attack, he hardly recognised Van der Westhuizen because of his injuries.

"If I didn't know it was him, I wouldn't have recognised him," he said.

Meintjes said Van der Westhuizen told him he was very tired, moments before dying in the veld. He had tried to stumble home, but didn't have the strength.

20030504 Jakob van der Westhuizen,74, Boekenhoutkloof,Cullinan, knifed to death, killer captured tluhk@lantic.ne http://www.tlu.co.zahttp://www.rights2property.comMay 5, 2003 -- Farmer Jakob van der Westhuizen, 74, of Boekenhoutkloof in the Cullinan district, was hacked to death by an attacker on Sunday on his farm, announced the Transvaal Agricultural Union of SA. His suspected killer was caught within hours by police. The man's remand appearance is scheduled in Pretoria magistrate's court on Tuesday or Wednesday. The agricultural union president has reacted angrily to this latest farm murder, saying it was dismayed especially about the fact that yet another mindless farm murder was "proving once again that the South African government is totally incapable of protecting all its citizens and especially ignoring the dangerous situation for its land owners." The president of the TLU also expressed deep sympathy to the family of the murdered elderly farmer.http://www.tlu.co.za--- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 05/05/2003 20030504 Jakob van der Westhuizen,74, Boekenhoutkloof,Cullinan, knifed to death, killer captured tluhk@lantic.ne http://www.tlu.co.zahttp://www.rights2property.com

May 5, 2003 -- Farmer Jakob van der Westhuizen, 74, of Boekenhoutkloof in the Cullinan district, was hacked to death by an attacker on Sunday on his farm, announced the Transvaal Agricultural Union of SA. His suspected killer was caught within hours by police. The man's remand appearance is scheduled in Pretoria magistrate's court on Tuesday or Wednesday.

The agricultural union president has reacted angrily to this latest farm murder, saying it was dismayed especially about the fact that yet another mindless farm murder was "proving once again that the South African government is totally incapable of protecting all its citizens and especially ignoring the dangerous situation for its land owners." The president of the TLU also expressed deep sympathy to the family of the murdered elderly farmer... http://www.tlu.co.za--- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 05/05/2003 20030504: Godukile Madyo (50) shot dead... Farmer held for murder 05/05/2003 09:45 - (SA) Balfour - A Balfour farmer was arrested on charges of killing a neighbour's relative and leaving two others injured when he shot at them on Sunday afternoon, Eastern Cape police said on Monday. Captain Nomazwi Nkombisa said Godukile Madyo, 50, died instantly while Mlamli Mzizi, 43, and Siphiwo Nqadini, 45, were taken to Victoria Hospital in Alice, Eastern Cape. The three are Luvuyo Mavuso's relatives, a farmer in the Mankazana area in Balfour. The suspect, 63, was expected to appear in court soon. The suspect allegedly opened fire on Mavuso and his passengers because he thought they wanted to attack him, Nkombisa said. She said the suspect's suspicion stemmed from a feud and a criminal case against each other over farm boundaries. The shooting took place at the Mankazana area about 17:00 when the suspect noticed that Mavuso and his passengers were following him. One passenger and Mavuso escaped unhurt, she said. Source... http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1355366,00.htm--- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 04/05/2003 Elderly couple attacked on farm 04/05/2003 18:01 - (SA)

Johannesburg - Three men armed with knives and pangas attacked an elderly couple at their farm in Westonaria.

Captain Paula Nothnagel said Martin Joubert, 81, was in the feeding birds at about 11:00 when he heard his dogs barking and his wife, Eilena, 80, screaming from the house.

When Joubert went to investigate he was overpowered and stabbed repeatedly in the head, arm and chest with a knife.

His wife was also stabbed and an attempt was made to cut her throat while the three intruders demanded money and weapons.

Nothnagel said the gardener heard the screaming and ran to a nearby shop to contact the police who arrived shortly afterwards.

The robbers ran away when they heard the police arriving and nothing was taken from the house.

Nothnagel said the Jouberts were taken to the local hospital in a serious but stable condition.

Potchefstroom - A 33-year-old farmer was murdered on his farm in the Delareyville district on Saturday night while his wife was assaulted, North West police said.

Captain Aafje Botma said in a statement released on Sunday that Johan Taljaard and his wife, Gertruida, 30, heard their dogs barking around 22:30 on Saturday night, but ignored it.

Shortly afterwards Mrs Taljaard woke up when a man tried to pull her from the bed, demanding the keys to the safe.

He allegedly also held a knife to her throat. The man tried to stab her with the knife when she said she did not know where the safe's keys were.

Another man overpowered Mr Taljaard and a scuffle ensued. The attacker got hold of a firearm which was hidden under the couple's pillows and fired several shots at Taljaard. He was hit in the groin, upper leg and shoulder and died on the bed.

After shooting the farmer, the attackers fled on foot, taking only the firearm and a small amount of money they took from Mrs Taljaard's purse.

The couple's two children, aged two and four, who were sleeping in an adjacent room, were not injured.

Mrs Taljaard sustained bruises to her face and upper body.

Botma said police were still searching for the suspects and they appealed to the community to contact the police if they had any information regarding the whereabouts of the men.

A dairy farmer has been shot dead on his doorstep by six attackers in front of his 3-year-old child.

Vereeniging - A dairy farmer was shot dead on his doorstep on Monday while six attackers held up his wife and parents-in-law, demanding money and firearms.

The couple's youngest child, Dryan, 3, witnessed the tragedy.

Johan van der Bank, 38, apparently arrived home from the diary when he was shot. He was wounded in the stomach and head and died in hospital a few hours later.

Captain Nthabiseng Mazimbuko, police spokesperson, said the attackers surprised Debbie van der Bank, 33, and her parents, Andries and Eleanor Visser, in the house and tied them up with ropes and wires. There were assaulted while the attackers demanded money from them.

They forced the young woman to unlock the safe.

The attackers took a large amount of cash and firearms and ransacked the house, looking for more items to steal.

Van der Bank was at the front door when the shots were fired. The attackers then fled in his car. The vehicle was found abandoned near Evaton later.

Van der Bank dropped the couple's other two sons, Johan, 8, and Visser, 7, at school earlier on Monday morning. The family had returned on Sunday evening from a holiday in Margate, KwaZulu-Natal.

Suspects in Brits farm attack held

While the Vaalrand police are still searching for these six suspects, the suspects in another farm murder in North West have been apprehended.

Members of the unit against serious and violent crime arrested the alleged murderers of Theuns Smit, from the Geluk area near Brits, in Bethanie and at a platinum mine in the area.

Brits - A Brits farmer was shot dead by an intruder on Thursday when he arrived home after closing his shop for the day, North West police said.

Inspector Tyrone Seate said Theuns Smit, 48, and three farm workers were unloading goods from his bakkie in the garage when Smit noticed that the kitchen window was open.

"When the farmer went into the house to investigate, he was shot in the chest by an intruder and died immediately," Seate said.

Seate said a farm worker at the gate to the farm noticed an armed man running away from the scene.

He said shortly afterwards, Smit's wife, who had spent the day in Pretoria, returned and was about to enter the property when she was warned by the worker not go in as there had been shooting.

The couple's neighbour was contacted and when he arrived to investigate, he discovered the farmer's body.

Seate said it was not yet known how many intruders were at the farm, but only one was seen. No one had been arrested.

Source... http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,6119,2-7-1442_1339536,00.html--- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 18/03/2003 Man beaten to death 17/03/2003 14:05 - (SA) Vereeniging - A 73-year-old man was found murdered in his home on a smallholding near De Deur in the Vaal triangle on Saturday, Vereeniging police reported on Monday. Captain Nthabiseng Mazibuko said the body of Joseph William Roberts was found by his son Gary at 11:00. He had apparently been beaten to death. Roberts lived alone on his smallholding, which was ransacked. Two guns and a microwave oven were missing. Two other families in the Vaal triangle were robbed in separate incidents over the weekend, said Mazibuko. James Morae, 54, and his family were overpowered by three armed men on their Walkerville smallholding at 02:00 on Saturday. The men stole a cellular phone, a television set, some clothing and about R600 in cash. Morae and his family were not injured. Maria Roets and her family were also overpowered by three armed men, on the farm Vlakplaats in the Barrage area on Friday afternoon, Mazibuko said. The robbers took a television set, a microwave oven, hi-fi equipment and a vehicle. No one was injured in the incident. Police could not comment on whether the robberies could be related as investigations were still in progress, Mazibuko said. Source... http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,6119,2-7-1442_1334239,00.html--- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 18/03/2003 30020315: Judas Ngutwane shot twice, survives... Farm worker shot twice 17/03/2003 14:47 - (SA) Riot Hlatshwayo

Hazyview - An Mpumalanga farm worker is in a serious condition in hospital after he was shot at work on Saturday afternoon.

Judas Ngutwane, 50, told police he was shot at twice when he went to collect his wages at Spitskop farm in Hazyview about 13:00.

Captain Mtsholi Bhembe of Lowveld police said on Monday: "One bullet hit him in the chest and another hit his middle finger."

Neighbours took Ngutwane to Themba Hospital in KaBokweni near White River.

Hazyview police went to the farm to investigate, only to be told that Ngutwane's boss, Henry Swart, had gone to White River police station.

"The officers radioed ahead to White River to ask them to detain Swart, but someone let him go," said Bhembe.

Police want to question Swart and have asked anyone who knows his whereabouts to contact the nearest police station. - African Eye News Service

Source... http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,6119,2-7-1442_1334295,00.html--- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 18/03/2003 30020315: Morae family attacked in Walkerville James Morae, 54, and his family were overpowered by three armed men on their Walkerville smallholding at 02:00 on Saturday. The men stole a cellular phone, a television set, some clothing and about R600 in cash. Morae and his family were not injured. Source... http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,6119,2-7-1442_1334239,00.html--- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 18/03/2003 Received from Adriana Stuijt (Censor Bugbear) - http://www.censorbugbear.comTwo found murdered on Pretoria smallholdings March 14, 2003, 11:00 -- Two people were found murdered on Pretoria smallholdings last night, police reported today. The first victim, an unnamed 58-year-old man, was found dead at the entrance to a Knoppieslaagte smallholding tuckshop, said Piletji Sebola, police spokesman. The attack victim had been shot once under the left arm. The man was still clutching a 50c coin and a packet of cigarettes in his hand. Police believed his attackers might have posed as clients. Earlier on Wednesday night, this same man had also notified police that he had spotted three intruders trying to break into his tuckshop. He had hit one with a chair and they ran off. Police were investigating a possible link, Sebola said. It was not known if the smallholding's tuckshop was even robbed and the motive for the attack remained unclear, Sebola said. This man could not be identified until his next-of-kin had been informed of his death. And at the Diepsloot smallholding region south of Pretoria, the body of a woman was also discovered in her neighbour's yard. The victim had been shot several times in the back. Police do not yet know what circumstances had led to her death.

The robbers took a television set, a microwave oven, hi-fi equipment and a vehicle. No one was injured in the incident.

Source... http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,6119,2-7-1442_1334239,00.html--- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 18/03/2003 30020311: Farmer Mick Uys survives attack... Farmer assaulted with hammer in Secunda March 12, 2003, 15:45 Two men were taken in for questioning after an 80-year-old farmer was assaulted on his farm in Kaalbank, outside Secunda last night, Mpumalanga police reported today.

Busapho Sibanyoni, a police spokesperson, said that Mick Uys was asleep around 9pm when he heard the breaking of the kitchen window. He went to investigate the situation and was confronted by two men who hit him on the head with a hammer.

The elderly farmer sustained two gashes on his head. The attackers then ran away after they ransacked the house. They stole a wrist watch as well as meat.

Sibanyoni said Uys alerted the police. Two men, aged 18 and 20, were arrested on the farm a few hours later. - Sapa

Source... http://www.sabcnews.com/south_africa/crime1justice/0,1009,54926,00.html--- * Posted to CBSA Message Board 18/03/2003 30020312: Farmer Gerhard Marx survives attack... Elderly farmer atacked, three youths arrested March 11, 2003, 08:30 A 70-year-old farmer was attacked at his farm outside Plettenberg Bay in the Southern Cape last night. Three youths were arrested after a manhunt by the police.

Police say the youths overpowered Gerhard Marx and stole his radio, cell phone and a wallet. Marx was rushed to a local hospital and later discharged after treatment. The three suspects are to appear at the Plettenberg Bay magistrate's court today.

Cape farmer shot dead Meanwhile, a 55-year-old Northern Cape grape farmer was been murdered on his farm at Uap near Upington.

Johan de Jager returned to his farmhouse after dropping his daughter at a friend's home. His wife had gone to church in Upington. It's thought that he surprised the burglars. De Jager was shot in the face and died on the scene.

Thandi Mbambo, a police spokesperson said Dolf Lloyd, (69) and Jan Zandberg, (70) were found murdered around 9am in Lloyd's house on the Estoire smallholding.

They were allegedly attacked by three men and a woman, two of whom had worked for Lloyd. Lloyd's mother-in-law, Magriet Smit, (79) was wounded in the attack and was admitted to hospital.

Lloyd's wife, Zenobia, called this morning from her work in Bloemfontein to check on Smit, who lived on the smallholding. Mrs Lloyd called the police after a stranger answered the home phone and the bodies were discovered shortly there after.

A firearm and purse were missing from the house, and no arrests had been made, Mbambo said. - Sapa

Police say Dekker's neighbour phoned him about 7am and he did not answer the telephone. The neighbour went to Dekker's house to check on him. He knocked at the door and Dekker did not respond. The neighbour opened the door and saw that the house had been ransacked. He proceeded to the other rooms and found Dekker lying in a pool of blood in his bedroom. He had been shot in the stomach.

A 67-year-old woman was attacked, tied up and robbed by armed men on her plot in Muldersdrift on Monday night, police said on Tuesday.

Inspector Yolande Bouwer said the woman, who did not want to be identified, was calling in her dogs after dark on Monday when four men, three of them armed, held her up and forced her back into the house.

She was made to hand over the safe keys then tied up and left in a bedroom while the men ransacked the house.

Bouwer said cash, a television set and sound system, clothes and bedding were taken as well as a .38 special revolver, a 9mm pistol, a pellet gun and a .357 magnum.

The goods were loaded onto the woman's Toyota Avante (registration FMC 155 GP) in which the robbers drove away.

Mari-Helene van Staden climbed over a security fence of razor wire, ran about 1km through farmlands and, finally, drove a tractor to farm workers' houses to get help. The workers took her to the neighbours.

When the neighbours arrived at the farmhouse, Douw van Tonder (24) was already dead, but the attackers had fled, sparing the life of Mari-Helene's sister, Alicia (20), who is being treated in hospital for shock and injuries.

Van Tonder was the son of a well-known farmer of the Marken area, Roland van Tonder, and his wife, Rita.

Van Tonder jun and Alicia had been married only for five months. The couple and Mari-Helene arrived home at De Kuil farm between Lephalale (Ellisras) and Marken about 23:00 on Saturday after visiting friends.

Shot and wounded one attacker

Mari-Helene says she unlocked the house, but decided to play pool in the lapa.

Her brother-in-law was overpowered when he entered the house. The attackers stabbed him with a hunting knife and apparently assaulted him with a rifle.

He managed to shoot at the attackers with his 9mm pistol and one was wounded in the leg.

Alicia shouted to Mari-Helene to run away. The young girl told in the Marapong Private Hospital at Lephalale on Sunday how she scaled the security fence and jumped over the razor wire.

She hurt her shoulder and has several cuts on her legs.

She said: "I just ran. I got lost at one stage, but when I saw the wheat field, I knew where I was. I ran across the dam wall and saw a tractor.

"I then drove to the workers with the tractor."

In the meantime, the attackers had forced Alicia to unlock the safe.

When they heard the sound of the neighbour's bakkie, the attackers fled.

The man wounded in the leg was found in the bush on Sunday morning. He is being treated in hospital. Trackers, the dog unit, members of the commando and farmers from the area were searching for the attackers on Sunday.

Robbers wound Knoppieslaagte's Tshabeleng farm couple Pretoria - Sept 6 2002 -- A couple were shot and wounded by two armed men during a robbery at their farm near Knoppieslaagte, south of here, on Thursday night, police have reported. Inspector Percy Morokane said on Friday the robbery took place about 22:00 when Sylvester Tshabeleng and his wife, both 45, heard a knock at the front door of their homestead. Two men armed with pistols held the couple at gunpoint, demanding cash. The farmer was shot once in the upper body and his wife in the left leg in a struggle with their attackers. The robbers ran away with two cellphones and a hi-fi system before the injured couple were rushed to Tembisa Hospital.Morokane said Tshabeleng was in a serious, but stable, condition and his wife was being treated for minor injuries. In another incident, in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, a 27-year-old tuck-shop owner was shot dead by two men who robbed her stand on Thursday night. Morokane said the woman, known so far only as Ramasa, was attacked by the men about 22:30 as she was about to close the shop.No arrests had been made yet, he said.

Polokwane - A woman from Letsitele is in a serious condition in hospital after she resisted her attackers during an attack on their farm on Friday night.

Aggie Jooste (59), talking with difficulty due to serious injuries to her throat, related how she had fought off two men who overpowered her. Police suspect the attack was planned.

Jooste said she had arrived at their farm, Nevengula, late on Friday afternoon. She would have been alone on the farm that night as her husband, Jan, was away on business in Polokwane.

She was in the garage unloading bags from her car, when the two men, armed with pick-axes and a knife, attacked her.

"They kept shouting: 'money, money, we want money', and the more I tried to explain that I didn't have any, the more they shouted," she explained.

They hit her repeatedly with the pick-axes.

"They then threw me to the ground and stepped on my head. They wanted to rape me and started to tear my clothes from my body," she said.

"One of them then ran to the car and found a gun. My son, Deane, lent me the gun because I was going to be alone at home.

"They wanted to shoot me. I then grabbed the gun and pushed the barrel into the ground and pulled the trigger. It is an automatic weapon. I used all the bullets. At one point I grabbed one of them by the testicles.

"They then pulled off all my jewellery, seven rings, a chain and a bangle.

"But all the time they were still searching for money and shouting at me to give them money. But they were also looking around, very nervously.

"I then told them that I would go and fetch money, but that they would have to drive with me. One of them wanted to get into the car, but the other ran away and when his partner wanted to call him, I started the car and sped away," she said.

A seriously injured and bleeding Jooste drove to Dr Gert du Preez, the local doctor in Letsitele, from where a farmer, Eddie Voster, took her to Polokwane by plane. She was taken to hospital by an ambulance waiting at the airport.

Jooste's left wrist was broken in the attack and she was covered with bruises and was cut in her face and on her head. She also has internal injuries to her throat.

Captain Moatshe Ngoepe, police spokesperson for the Low Veld area, said two suspects were arrested and all Jooste's stolen property retrieved. The two will appear in court on Monday.

He said one of the suspects was on the scene when police arrived - the other was the driver of the getaway vehicle.

Police arrested a man after six people were killed and another six seriously injured in a family massacre at Goqwana village near Umtata, Eastern Cape police said on Saturday.

A nine-year-old child was among those killed and an eight-month-baby was rushed to hospital after a group of gunmen attacked the family on July 28, Superintendent Nondumiso Jafta said.

The assailants opened fire on the extended family while they were sleeping. The motive for the attack is not known.

The six injured people were still in hospital more than a week after the incident.

Jafta said the man was caught at his home in the village during a joint operation between the police and the army on Thursday.

Police found two firearms linked to the killings in his possession. - Sapa

Source: IOL http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=15&art_id=qw1028980620962B265&set_id=1--- More than 1 000 people died in farm attacks: Agri SA August 07, 2001, 15:45 Since 1991 more than a thousand people, mostly commercial farmers, have died in 5 594 attacks on farms, Agri South Africa said today. The statistics were released by Annelize Crosby, Agri SA director of legal and management services, who said they would form part of a submission on behalf of farmers to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC).

Agri SA, which represents about 45 000 commercial farmers and 35 000 emerging farmers, was in the process of compiling a submission on what farmers perceived to be human rights abuses against them. Cross said the security issue, apart from land rights, was the single most important issue for commercial farmers. Farmers increasingly felt their basic human rights, as guaranteed in the Constitution, were being ignored by government.

Yesterday the Democratic Alliance said a lack of security on farms has resulted in South African farmers now living in "a continuous state of terror".

Human Rights Commission recently launched national investigation The SAHRC recently launched a national year long project to investigate human rights abuses on farms under the banners of land rights and tenancy, safety and security and social and economic rights.

The commission has asked for submissions from farmers and farm workers alike. Crosby said a submission, made on behalf of the federation's affiliated agricultural unions, would be finished by the end of the week. "We will make a written submission and most probably also a verbal submission. The material used for our submission will be made available to all our members. We have also called on individual farmers to make submissions to the commission," Crosby said.

The security issue moved back under the spotlight this week when Johan Stapelberg, 40, and his brother-in-law Hendrik Johannes Uys, 35, were killed during an attack on a farm near Boons in the North West Province on Saturday. The two had reacted to an emergency call from a neighbour. Two days later two more farmers were injured during attacks.

Attacks cannot be tolerated says Transvaal Agricultural Union The Transvaal Agricultural Union (TAU) today said the escalating flood of attacks and barbarism aimed at South African farmers had reached a level at which it could no longer be tolerated.

Gert Ehlers, TAU President, said the politicians' silence on the issue only sanctioned these attacks and the state was failing dismally to ensure the rights of the country's people to live in a safe and secure environment.

"If the government cannot or will not fulfil this responsibility, they should come out and say so," Ehlers said.

Recorded attacks over past ten years According Agri SA statistics farm attacks had increased dramatically since 1998 and the escalation showed no signs of slackening off. For the first six months of this year, there had been 461 attacks in which 67 people had been killed.

The highest number of attacks on farms, 902, was recorded last year while the highest number of murders was recorded in 1999.

In 1991 there had been 327 attacks and 66 murders, in 1992; 365 attacks and 63 murders, in 1993; 442 attacks and 84 murders, in 1994; 443 attacks and 92 murders, in 1995; 551 attacks and 120 murders, in 1996; 486 attacks and 109 murders, in 1997; 433 attacks and 85 murders, in 1998; 769 attacks and 142 murders, in 1999; 813 attacks and 144 murders and in 2000; 902 attacks and 142 murders.

Illegal occupations to be raised In addition to expressing concern over safety and security, Cross said Agri SA would also make a submission on the land rights issue. The federation recently stated that current legislation rendered landowners helpless against large scale illegal squatting.

The Prevention of Illegal Evictions Act afforded more protection to illegal occupiers than to land owners.

East Rand farmer Braam Duvenhage earlier this month attempted to remove about 40 000 illegal occupants from his property at Modderklip near Daveyton after obtaining a court order for the eviction of the squatters on his land in May last year. However, the local bailiff refused to remove them before the cost of eviction, amounting to R1,8 million, had been paid.

Agri SA has called on government to review the current legislation to pre-empt more land invasions. The federation will also make submissions on other matters which affect farmers and farm workers. These include the deterioration of rural roads, farm schools, a lack of housing and unemployment in rural areas. - Sapa

20010710: 70-year old Mpuma farmer killed July 10, 2001, 15:00 A 70-year-old farmer has died after being shot by a group of people taking wood from a paddock on his farm, Toitskraal near Marble Hall in Mpumalanga. He died on the way to hospital. The incident is one of four farm attacks that have been reported in the province in the last 24 hours.

Earlier, a 69-year-old farmer, Hester Mahoney was attacked by two men pretending to be looking for work at his farm, Brakpan near Hendrina. An 18-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the attack and some of the stolen property has been recovered.

In Nelspruit, a couple was attacked at their shop on a smallholding. The robbers, who had been employees on the farm, stole rifles and ammunition before escaping. A farm worker at Nerston farm, Amsterdam, was attacked in his house by two intruders wearing balaclavas. Lion Maseko was threatened with a firearm and robbed of a chainsaw worth R3 325.

The thieves also fired several shots before running off into the night, but without injuring anyone.

Eric Nkabinde, the Provincial police commissioner, has condemned the crimes. He says the province's recently established Serious and Violent Crimes Unit is investigating the incidents. - Sapa Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/general/0,1009,17605,00.html--- Land grabs will escalate attacks: TAU July 09, 2001, 17:45 Illegal land invasions will result in an escalation of farm attacks. This is according to the Transvaal Agricultural Union (TAU).

"We have evidence to prove that attacks on the farming community are common in areas where there are informal squatters," Niemann says.

Citing the recent land invasion at Bredell near Kempton Park, Niemann says farmers in the vicinity had complained about their safety. They have also voiced concerns about the impact the occupation would have on planned investments in the area.

Thousands of squatters face eviction after invading the farm Elandsfontein at Bredell with the backing of the Pan Africanist Congress.

But, Annelise Crosby, Agri SA legal services director, has refuted statements that land invasions would prompt more attacks on farmers. "Farm attacks can be attributed to a number of factors, but land invasions is not among them," she says.

Crosby has backed a call by the PAC for a land summit, saying the question of land reform needs to be addressed urgently.

"The government and all agricultural unions have to sit at the round table and make quick resolutions before blood is shed," Crosby says. - Sapa

Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/land_affairs/0,1009,17563,00.html--- 20010705: North West farmers threaten to take law into their hands July 05, 2001, 20:00 Farmers in the North West are threatening to take the law into their own hands because they say government has failed to protect them from the on-going farm killings. Speaking at an emotionally charged meeting in Delareyville, they say over 1000 farmers have been killed out of 6000 attacks in the country since 1994, but the government is doing nothing to stop the killings.

Angry farmers say the killings are as a result of political leaders' failure to denounce slogans such as "kill the farmer kill the boere" and "One settlers one bullet". They say they are being compromised.

Izak Smallman, deputy police commissioner, says two suspects have already been arrested in connection with the recent killing of a Delareyville farmer Johannes van Heerden.

The provincial government has appealed for more co-operation between farmers, police, commandos and farm workers. Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/land_affairs/0,1009,17399,00.html--- 20010629: Farmer makes moves towards reconciliation June 29, 2001, 18:45 Andrew Jonker In the spirit of reconciliation, a farmer from Albertinia in the southern Cape, who allegedly drove over a farm worker and broke his leg, paid a visit to the community. The farmer, Andrew Jonker, was acquitted last year in a trial that received much publicity.

A few hundred residents turned up to see Jonker apologise to the community but had to wait a while until he made his appearance.

The incident took place on Easter Monday last year on the farm Nietverloren, about 30 km outside Albertinia.

Jonker came to fetch Willem de Bruin and another worker, to move some water sprinkling pipes. During the attempted murder trial, Jonker testified that he unintentionally reversed his bakkie over De Bruin's leg.

Last night however, instead of apologising as expected, Jonker reiterated his innocence. He said: "I just came to tell my side of the story." Jonker's wife came out in support of her husband and said: "My husband is not a bad man".

Although pleased with his attempt to make peace with the community, most of the crowd felt that Jonker did not show any remorse. One of the local residents said: "We thought that Jonker should have apologised, but that did not happen".

Chris Taut a community leader said:: "Although he did not show any remorse, we welcome fact that he made this attempt."

De Bruin and his family were not present.

Despite the different opinions on the subject, it was generally felt that the incident had created a closer bond between the farmer and the community.

Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/general/0,1009,17108,00.html--- Abuse of farm workers highlighted June 25, 2001, 09:45 Sinah Khunou (19) allegedly lost her eye after an attack Farm Workers in the Brits area in the North West have met with members of parliament, representatives of the Labour Department and the Human Rights Commission to discuss the alleged abuse of workers on farms in the area.

The meeting follows an earlier one held in the beginning of this month with farmers who raised concerns about farm attacks in the area.

Hundreds of farm workers gathered at the Brits town hall yesterday to raise their concerns about the alleged maltreatment they receive from farmers.

Khazamola Chauke, a farm worker told the meeting that he worked on a farm for years but was later dismissed because he could not work properly as he was injured on duty.

He was hospitalised for a month after a trailer fell on him while working in a maize field. For the month he was hospitalised he only received R140.

"He said you are a scrap now, you must go, " Chauke said.

Sinah Khunou (19) is a daughter of one of the farm workers who came to raise her concerns. Khunou lost her right eye after she was allegedly attacked by four farmers while walking with her boyfriend on the farm.

She says she reported the matter to police but the perpetrators have not been arrested.

"They did not say anything to us they just attacked us, " Khunou said.

Lesiba Kgwele, a member of Parliament says his office has been inundated with complaints on the alleged abuse of farm workers. He says the meetings were organised to get both sides of the story.

"The stories that we heard today are very shocking, while the meeting of the 1st of June farmers denied that the were abusing farm workers and the stories that we have heard today are pathetic and definitely needs attention," Kgwele said.

Kgwele says as a constituency office they intend convening another meeting with farm unions, representatives of farmers and farm workers, the police and Human rights commission to investigate these specific cases.

Captain Sibongile Ndyoko, the police spokesperson there said the bodies of Lwayiphi Monise (38), and his wife, Nokwayiyo Killton (35), were found with multiple stab wounds yesterday morning by a person who went to deliver milk to Swallows farm, situated between Stutterheim and Keiskammahoek.

He said Songezile Cala, the milk delivery man, found the bodies of the couple dumped behind a sofa in the lounge of the farmhouse.

Ndyoko said the farm owner, Ian Schwartz, had gone to Durban on Friday morning and left the couple to occupy and look after his farm for the weekend.

Cala decided to inquire at the nearby houses on the farm after getting no response to his knock. He met Monise's brother, Greyson, who also did not know the whereabouts of the couple.

Upon his return, Cala peeped through the window and saw the baby crying on a bed. He entered and discovered the two bodies dumped behind the sofa in the living room.

It is believed the murders took place some time on Saturday night. A case of double murder is being investigated.

Ndyoko could not confirm if they had classified the incident as a farm attack but said the motive appeared to be robbery.

"The whole house was ransacked and we will know upon Schwartz' return on what is missing," Ndyoko said.

Sandile Hloba, the Police Area Commissioner has described the killing as brutal.

"We will do all in our power to bring perpetrators to book and the law will take its course. My condolences go to the families of the deceased," Hloba said.

Ndyoko pledged to the community to assist in the arrests of the culprits by calling Captain Dawie Peters on 0824975731 or 0880010111. A reward is on offer and all the information will be treated with confidentiality. - Sapa Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/crime1justice/0,1009,16815,00.html--- 20010613: Farm murders come under spotlight today June 13, 2001, 08:45 The issue of farm murders, will be in the spotlight today when two suspects accused of the murder of Jannie Meiring, a 76-year-old Senekal farmer, appear in court in the eastern Free State town.

Premier Winkie Direko has said that anyone who kills an aged and defenceless farmer is not worthy of being given a chance to live.

The Free Sate Agricultural Union's Security Committee is meeting with police today to discuss what can be done about farm attacks. The union says it has been inundated with calls protesting about the recent farm murders.

The Freedom Front Free State branch said last week it would lodge a formal complaint with the International Human Rights Commission over the safety of Afrikaners, and particularly farmers in South Africa.

Captain Veronica Ntepe, a police spokesperson, said neighbours alerted the police around 7.30am today that something was amiss at Jan Meiring's farm.

On arrival the police found his body in his bedroom. He had a stab wound to the abdomen. He lived alone on the farm. Meiring's Toyota bakkie was found about 5 km from the house on a road, loaded with blankets and food. It appears his killers had problems operating the immobiliser.

Weapons in Meiring's safe were left untouched. The killers gained access to the house through the bathroom window, which had no burglar proofing.

Ntepe said a reward of up to R20 000 was being offered for any information that might lead to the arrest and conviction of the murderers. - Sapa

Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/crime1justice/0,1009,16093,00.html--- Three arrested after farm murders June 09, 2001, 11:00 Police arrested three men in Dimbaza near East London today in connection with a farm murder last month, Eastern Cape police said. Captain Sibongile Ndyoko said the men, two aged 18 and the other 50, were arrested between 1:30am and 4am.

He said the men would appear in court on Monday.

The bodies of Shirley Dennis (64), and her husband William (65), were found on May 31 at their farm in the King William's Town area. A neighbour contacted the police after he went to the farm house and there was no answer at the door.

The body of Shirley Dennis was found in the dining room where she had been tied up and apparently hit over the head with a blunt object.

Her husband's body was found about 100 metres from the house. He was tied to a fence and also struck on the head. - Sapa Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/land_affairs/0,1009,16041,00.html--- Slain Western Cape farm couple laid to rest June 07, 2001, 17:15 Brutal farm killings have become a part of South African life, but the Ceres community near Cape Town is still shocked by the most recent killing in the area. Devastated friends, family and labourers gathered at the muddy graveside today as Jan and Lizzette Visser were lowered into a shared grave. The couple were killed on their farm in the Koue Bokkeveld last Friday.

Visser was shot dead when he and a worker went to investigate the source of smoke emanating from behind a hill on the farm. His wife was found shot dead in their home.

Three men were arrested the same day after a massive manhunt. An Uzi automatic pistol, a Luger pistol and a rifle believed to have been used by the attackers were found hidden under a rock.

The couple's three children escaped the attack as they were attending school at that time of day. In a spirit of almost unbelievable reconciliation, Bennie Visser (11), the couple's second child, begged his family to forgive the men who orphaned him and his brothers, Klein Jan (13) and Danie (8).

Thoko Didiza, the Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister, called for the alleged killers to be dealt with harshly. Addressing mourners at the couple's funeral, she said the murders reflected disregard for human life.

Didiza expressed condolences to the bereaved families and lauding the quick arrest of the three men, she said it indicated that the rural safety plan was making an effect. "We call on the rural community to continue working closely with the police to improve protection of rural areas," said Didiza.

Paul Setsetse, the Justice department spokesperson, said courts are starting to come down hard on the perpetrators of such murders. "The department has urged the courts not to act leniently when dealing with this scourge. Adequate sentences should be passed irrespective of race or motive."

Memorial service for cops killed last week

A number of church groups offered police their support at an emotional service at the Bishop Lavis police station near Cape Town after loosing two of their colleagues.

Inspector Peter Lesalaise and Sergeant Michael Barry were shot while off duty during an armed robbery last week. Church leaders called on the community to expose criminals living in their midst.

Earlier, colleagues and friends held a ceremony for the men inside the police station. - Sapa

Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/crime1justice/0,1009,15949,00.html--- Revenge the motive for farm attacks, says Agri SA June 05, 2001, 05:45 Agri South Africa says it iss convinced that revenge is the obvious motive for the recent farm killings in the country. Japie Grobler, Agri SA president, says: "In these cases the usual criminal motive cannot be used as the reason for the murders. We cannot simply accept that these attacks are motivated by criminality."

Grobler says Agri SA would, during its next round of talks with President Thabo Mbeki, insist that drastic measures to prevent attacks on farms be implemented.

Farmers continue to die In one of the latest attacks, Petros Schoonwinkel (33), and his wife, Marika (30), were shot dead at their farm in Diepkloof, Mpumalanga, on Saturday.

The attackers also took the couple's 9-year-old boy with them. He was later found alive, but naked with his mouth bound with grass.

In another attack, Jannie Visser and his wife Annelize were killed on their farm in the Koue Bokkeveld, near Ceres, in the Western Cape on Friday morning.

Also, last week the bodies of William Dennis (65), and his wife, Shirley (64), were found on their farm outside King William's Town, in the Eastern Cape.

"We expect that the independent committee (appointed on instruction from Steve Tshwete, Safety and Security Minister, to investigate farm killings) will take thorough notice of these attacks as examples of revenge attacks, and that the reasons for such revenge will be exposed," says Grobler.

The committee was formed to investigate the possible motives behind farm attacks. - Sapa Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/crime1justice/0,1009,15812,00.html--- Mbeki urged to intervene in farm killings June 04, 2001, 14:00 One of the accused in Visser couple killing Gerald Morkel, the Western Cape Premier, has urged President Thabo Mbeki to personally intervene to end the spate of farm killings in the country. In a message sent to Mbeki, Morkel says it is in the interest of not only farmers, who provide food, but of the country as a whole.

The call follows the slaying of a young farming couple, Jannie and Annelize Visser, on their farm in the Koue Bokkeveld near Ceres at the weekend.

Jannie was shot when he and a labourer went to investigate smoke coming from behind a hill on the farm. They found a man making a fire and when they asked what he was doing, he opened fire hitting Visser in the chest. He died at the scene while his wife was found shot dead in the farmhouse.

Three have been arrested for the murders and a rifle and two automatic firearms confiscated.

The suspects appeared in court today and were not asked to plead. The case has been postponed to June 20.

Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/general/0,1009,15776,00.html--- Farmers ask government for protection against attacks June 04, 2001, 12:30 The Ceres Magistrate's Court in the Western Cape drew several members of the area's farming community this morning for the court appearance of three suspects, arrested in connection with the murders of a farmer and his wife. The farming community says they do not feel safe and have requested that the government provide protection against further attacks.

The suspects, Parlement Ngulube, Elliot Samela and Mpiza Kroza appeared briefly in court on Friday in connection with the murders of 41-year-old Jannie Visser and his wife. Visser was shot in the chest after he and a farm worker had gone to the farm to investigate what appeared to be smoke on the property. His wife's body was later found in their home.

The suspects were arrested a few hours after the attack following an intensive manhunt. The couple's three young children were at school at the time of the attack.

Piet Waterboer, the spokesperson of the Witzenberg farming community, says they will hand over a petition to Hennie Bester, the Western Cape Community Safety Minister, demanding that the suspects be denied bail. The case has been postponed until the 20th of this month for further investigation.

Captain William Reid said Jannie Visser (41), and a farm worker went to investigate a fire about 100 metres from the farm house around 8am. Three men confronted them shortly after they left the house. One of them opened fire and shot Visser in the chest. He died on the scene.

The farm worker managed to escape and ran to the nearest farm house about four kilometres away.

Police were informed and proceeded to the farm house where they found the body of Annelize Visser (33). She had apparently been hiding behind a bedroom door when she was shot in the head.

The couple is survived by three children, aged eight, 11 and 13. The children were in school at the time of the attack.

Three arrests made Community members, the police and the air force launched an extended search and arrested three men late in the afternoon. Three firearms were recovered. The men will appear in court next week.

The motive for the attack is not known as nothing was stolen from the house. - Sapa

Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/crime1justice/0,1009,15688,00.html--- Parliamentarians, farmers to meet amid continuing farm attacks June 01, 2001, 04:30 William and Shirley Dennis were found murdered on their smallholding, Yellow-woods Farm A parliamentary delegation will today meet farmers in the Brits area, North West province, to discuss issues ranging from farm attacks to unfair dismissals of farm workers. A statement from the National Assembly said several deputy ministers and public representatives from the agriculture and home affairs sectors will meet with farmers from Brits, Hartebeespoort, Mooinooi, Meerhof, Skeerpoort and Assen.

The meeting will convene at the Brits Rugby Stadium at 10am.

The meeting was scheduled after the Brits Parliamentary Constituency Office was inundated with complaints of unfair dismissals, eviction of farm workers, employment of illegal immigrants, farm attacks and murders.

"We believe that the farming sector is an important and crucial sector as it feeds our nation. We believe that the sector should therefore be consulted on critical issues such as its safety and welfare," the statement said.

Another farm killing

The bodies of an elderly couple were found on their farm outside King William's Town yesterday afternoon, Eastern Cape police said.

Captain Eddie Watson said a neighbour went to the farm house around 4pm. He contacted the police when nobody answered the door.

The body of Shirley Dennis (64), was found in the dining room. She was tied up and had apparently been hit over the head with a blunt object.

The police found the body of William Dennis (65), her husband, about 100 metres from the house. He was tied to a fence and had also been struck on the head.

Police believed the attack took place on Tuesday or Wednesday. The house was ransacked but no vehicles or firearms were stolen. - Sapa

AN INTENSIFIED police investigation into farm attacks in the Western Cape has paid off. Since May last year, 10 suspects have been arrested in connection with seven attacks, in which seven people were killed .

In February, Cape Metro reported that increasing farm attacks were forcing some farmers off their land, while others were living in fear and resorting to drastic security measures .

Police were banned from releasing crime statistics, but a farmers' union official said the Western Cape had the highest number of farm attacks in SA, prompting the union to draft an urgent safety plan.

Boland police spokesman, Captain William Reid, said their success had been due to co-operation between farmers and police.

"[The success] was because of the support of the public and also because we formed task teams to investigate farm attacks, so that they could immediately work on specific cases and try to make the necessary breakthroughs and arrests," Reid said.

"I would also like to thank the farmers. They gave a lot of support with committees and support groups they have formed."

The arrests include:

Two men were convicted for the attack on Hennie and Ria Retief on the farm Hexenberg near Wellington last May, and sentenced to 34 and 37 years in jail.

In August, Willie and Anna Marais were murdered on their farm in Citrusdal; two arrests have been made.

In September, Carlo Listenborgh was killed at his smallholding in Klapmuts and his wife Peggy assaulted; one suspect has been arrested and is awaiting trial.

In October, Vittorio and Maria Isolo were attacked on their farm in Klapmuts; four arrests have been made, and the men will appear in the Paarl regional court on May 30 .

On New Year's Day, Percy and Loretta van Zyl were killed on their farm Hoopenberg, near Stellenbosch; two arrests have been made, and the suspects will appear in the High Court on June 18 .

In January, Ernst Neuenschwander was killed on his farm Panorama near Hermon; one suspect was arrested, who is awaiting trial .

In the most recent farm attack, robbers last Friday stabbed an 80-year-old woman to death on the De Hoop farm near Porterville, and injured her son and his wife.

No arrests have yet been made, but a local specialised task team has been appointed to the case.

Source... http://www.suntimes.co.za/2001/05/27/news/cape/nct03.htm--- 12 farms devastated by fire in Mangete May 26, 2001, 18:45 12 farms have been devastated by fire in Mangete Twelve sugar cane farms in the strife-torn Mangete area on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast have been devastated by fires, believed to have been started by arsonists.

Firefighters fought through the night to bring the fires under control.

Damage is estimated at more than R1 million.

The area has been tense for some time because of a dispute between the Mangete Landowners' Association and the local Tribal Authority over a land claim.

As dawn breaks among the dying embers, echoes of farm chaos in neighbouring Zimbabwe are on the lips of farm owners who had to fight the raging fires. While the burned sugar-cane looks normal from a distance, it nevertheless stirs fears of copycat attacks. A closer look at the plants shows just what damage the fire has caused.

Linden Dunn, Chairperson Mangete Farmers Association, believes the burning is the work of arsonists.

Such attacks have become frequent since the land claim dispute was lodged. Although they have not identified anybody, farmers say they are constantly threatened by so-called "squatters". But they have been quick to point out that the squatters are not directly involved in the dispute.

Pat Dunn, Chairperson of the Land Owners Association, blames a splinter group of landless people who are disgruntled by the slow pace of land reform.

Arbitration of the land claims has been set for next month.

As the farmers count the cost of the damage, plans are afoot to salvage what they can of the cane.

Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/general/0,1009,15386,00.html--- Farmer to face music for violating labour laws May 24, 2001, 17:45 Inspectors from the department of labour have started gathering evidence against Mpumalanga farmers for gross violations of the Labour Act. This comes after a visit to the farms in the Komatipoort area following a tip-off that farmers employ illegal immigrants under terrible conditions.

At one orange farm, officials found about 500 Mozambican workers including children. The children, some only 10 years old, live with relatives who also work on the farm. They say they are forced to work in the field for R40 a month. They also complained of constantly being beaten.

There is no maternity leave and mothers have to hire young girls to look after their babies.

Piet Maritz, one farmer guilty of such practices, does not deny that he employs Mozambicans and minors. He also does not deny the allegations of beating them, but claims if his workers were unhappy they would have murdered him a long time ago.

The Labour Department says it will take action against Maritz and farmers like him. Boiki Mampuru, an Assistant Director of Inspection for the department, says the farmer will be prosecuted after enough evidence has been gathered.

The children will be removed from the farm and preparations are underway for their return to Mozambique.

Milicia Bezuidenhout, a police spokesperson, says Gustav Gallasz was sitting in the lounge with his 23-year-old wife last night when four men, one of them armed, attacked.

She says Gallasz was tied-up with a waist belt and then beaten to death. The motive for the attack is still unknown.

The men took two firearms, two cellphones and escaped in Gallasz's Mercedes Benz. His wife was not injured.

Early this morning the culprits were stopped at a roadblock in Hercules, outside Pretoria. A shootout ensued, but the men abandoned the car and managed to escape.

The vehicle is being investigated for further clues. No arrests have been made.

Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/crime1justice/0,1009,14426,00.html--- Farmer shoots dead colleague in the Northern Cape May 03, 2001, 15:30 The farming community at Postmansburg in the Northern Cape is still in deep shock after one of its members shot and killed a colleague in the presence of police two days ago. The two farmers were apparently involved in a land dispute. Police say farmer, Lucas Van Vuuren, had sold a frm to his colleague Eugene Maree, who then failed to make repayments. They say van Vuuren confiscated cattle belonging to Maree and an argument ensued between the two men. Police were informed about the matter and Maree took out a gun in their presence and shot Van Vuuren three times, killing him instantly. His grandson that was with him was injured. Maree then allegedly pointed the firearm to the police officer on duty. The officer also drew out his pistol and shot him, he later died in hospital. Jan Van Der Merwe, a spokesperson for farmers at Postmansburg, says Van Vuuren's grandson is in a serious, but stable condition in hospital. Police say the independent complaints' directorate has been informed about the incident and are investigating. Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/general/0,1009,14331,00.html--- Training video found on how to kill farmers, says farming organisationMarch 30, 2001, 07:30 Police commissioner Steve Tshwete comforts a tearful Moek van Rensburg, father of murdered Nicholas van Rensburg Representatives of organised agriculture say they possess a police document which claims that an unnamed organisation is paying people and giving them weapons to destabilise the farming community. This comes after a spate of killings in the farming community last week. Organisations such as Action Stop Farm Attacks and Agri South Africa say they have launched their own investigation into farm killings. They say a training video on how to murder farmers was recently found in the possession of six suspects Werner Webber, chairperson of Action Stop Farm Attacks, says he has a police document which states that an organisation which he refused to name is paying people R2000 a piece and giving them weapons to kill farmers. He says he received the document from military sources. Webber says the purpose is to force farmers off their land. However, Sally De Beer, a police spokesperson, says the police are unaware of any such video or documents. Webber also says an investigation has shown that only 10% of farm attacks are committed by farm workers. Tshwete promises tighter security Meanwhile, Steve Tshwete, Safety and Security Minister, says farmers have every right to be angry and frustrated about farm attacks. Tshwete was addressing the farming community of Marikana, in the North West Province yesterday, after two farmers, Pieter Raath and Nicholas van Rensburg, were murdered in the district earlier this week. Tshwete told the farmers that he would do everything possible to ensure their safety and to enable them to get on with their lives. He said that a committee appointed to investigate farm killings would visit the area in two months time. He asked farmers to nominate farm workers to undergo training as reservists, and said four helicopters would be deployed to help curb farm attacks. Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/general/0,1009,13019,00.html--- Tshwete says government will protect farmers March 29, 2001, 17:30 Steve Tshwete comforts a tearful Moek van Rensburg, father of murdered Nicholas van Rensburg Farmers have every right to be angry and frustrated after two farm murders in the Marico area in North West this week, Steve Tshwete, safety and security minister said today. Addressing the outraged Marikana community, he said: "I'm not going to let you down. I will do everything in my command to ensure that you are safe and can go on with your lives. Don't lose hope, we are going to make it right." Tshwete, accompanied by Japie Grobler, Agri SA president, police and government officials, visited the area in the wake of the murder of Pieter Raath (51), and Nicholas van Rensburg (35). Raath was stabbed to death at Mooinooi on Monday and Van Rensburg was shot dead outside Marikana on Tuesday. Van Rensburg's mother, Hester, was wounded in the back and was discharged from hospital today. Tshwete, travelling in one of the four Squirrel helicopters acquired to help police in the fight against farm attacks, first visited the local police station before going to the Van Rensburg residence. Tears streaming down his face, Moek van Rensburg pointed out where his son was attacked and the spot under a fig tree where his body was found. "What must I do? I am not angry. My heart is broken. Please help me," pleaded Van Rensburg, as Tshwete hugged him. Emotions ran high at a public meeting with Tshwete and Grobler in the Marikana community hall. When asked to switch off all cell phones, someone shouted: "Our wives are alone on the farms. We live in South Africa. We refuse to switch of our cell phones." Farmers say they are in a state of war In his address, Grobler said: "We are in a state of war." Although President Thabo Mbeki did a lot of good, for instance with the economy, the country needed a champion against crime Grobler said. The government failed dismally in protecting people's lives and property, which was a most basic right, he added. Condemning farm attacks as outrageous and treacherous, Tshwete said the full wrath of the law would be unleashed upon those responsible. "If you are killing the farming community, you are killing the country." Reacting to calls for the reinstatement of the death penalty, he said it would be very difficult to go to the South African electorate now and get them to endorse the death sentence. This was met with applause from the audience. The minister called on farm residents countrywide to identify people from each farm to be trained as police reservists. "We have a budget for that. We want to train no less than 30 000 reservists." - Sapa Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/crime1justice/0,1009,13000,00.html--- Tshwete to address farmers on spate of killings March 29, 2001, 06:00 Steve Tshwete, the minister of safety and security Steve Tshwete, Safety and Security Minister, is to address farmers of the Marico area, in the North West province, following yesterday's farm attacks. He would also visit two farms where murders took place during the past week, Andre Martin, his spokesperson, said yesterday. Japie Grobler, president of Agri SA would accompany Tshwete to Marikana, near Rustenburg, the organisation said in a statement. According to Agri SA, 19 farmers have been killed in 63 farm attacks since the beginning of the year. This week, two farmers have been murdered in the Marico area. On Monday night, four men attacked Pieter Raaths (51), on his farm near Mooinooi. He was stabbed to death. Elizabeth Pretorius (43), his friend, was beaten and kicked On Tuesday afternoon Nicholas van Rensburg (35), was shot dead on the farm Rooikoppies near Marikana. Six men who apparently wanted to buy a tractor killed him. His mother Hester (56) was wounded in the shoulder. Five men have been arrested in connection with the incident. Tshwete was scheduled to visit the farm today. He was also expected to fly to the farm Appelfontein near Dendron in the Northern Province, where rugby players allegedly killed Tshepo Motlokwane, a 19-year-old man on Sunday. Police divers were still looking for Motlokwane's body, which was believed to have been dumped in the Arabie dam, until late last night. - Sapa Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/crime1justice/0,1009,12973,00.html--- Mother and son killed in farm attack March 28, 2001, 09:00 Nicholas Janse van Rensburg and his mother were killed at their Rooikoppies farm A 35-year-old farmer and his mother were killed in the second farm attack in the Marico area in the past 24 hours. Nicholas Janse van Rensburg and his mother Hester (56) were at their farm in Rooikoppies near Marikana when they were approached by six men wanting to buy a tractor.

Four of the men accompanied Nicholas to a kraal and the other two remained with his mother.

At the kraal several shots were fired and Nicholas was hit in the left side of the head and he died on the scene. Meanwhile the other two men shot Hester in her right shoulder. She was taken to a nearby hospital where she later died.

Nothing was taken from the farm and the men fled the scene on foot. The police arrested five men in the area soon after the attack while sixth managed to evade the police. A 9mm pistol and a knife were confiscated from the men.

Link to previous murder investigated

Patty Khumalo, a police spokesperson, says the possibility that the six men are linked to the murder of 51-year-old Pieter Raaths, who was attacked at his farm in nearby Mooinooi near Groenfontein two days ago, is being investigated.

Raaths was having supper with his friend, Elizabeth Pretorius (43) when four men attacked them.

The men stabbed Raaths in his neck, right shoulder, chest and ribs while Pretorius was beaten and kicked. The attackers then ransacked the house and fled with cash and firearms. Pretorius, who sustained minor injuries, contacted neighbours and the police.

Raaths was taken to the Brits Hospital, where he died on arrival. - Sapa

Kevin and Loo McGregor were murdered last Sunday, while their four-year-old granddaughter was left unharmed.

Meanwhile, two farmers have been murdered in seperate incidents in the Marico area in the North West Province.

35-year-old Nikki Janse van Rensburg lost his life at the hands of a six men gang, who attacked him and his mother on their Rooikoppies farm just outside Marikana, in the North West Marico area this afternoon.

His mother Hettie, was also shot, but survived, only to die later of her injuries.

In another attack, less than 25 kilometres away from the first incident, 52-year-old farmer, Pieter Raaths, was attacked, stabbed and possibly shot in the bedroom of his home.

It's believed four attackers hid in his spare room and waited for Raaths and his friend Meisie Pretorius to return home.

The couple were attacked while having dinner.

Pretorius was not injured, but Raaths later died at hospital.

By six o'clock this evening police and commandos were combing the area for further suspects. A possible link between the two farm attacks is being investigated

Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/general/0,1009,12907,00.html--- Police act speedily to arrest suspects in farm murders March 26, 2001, 21:15 Police confirmed late today that three men were arrested near Ugie in the Eastern Cape, in connection with the killing of Kevin James McGregor (40), and his wife, Louise McGregor (47), who were shot dead on their farm Bloemvlei, about 12km from Elliot, yesterday evening. Two stolen firearms and a bakkie have also been recovered.

The bodies of the couple were found this morning when farmworkers alerted a neighbour, Murray Andrews, at 6am this morning. When Andrews got to the farm, he discovered three-year-old toddler Taylor McCourt locked up alone in a bedroom with the family dog, in the farmhouse containing the bodies of her murdered grandparents.

She was taken to Andrews' home early yesterday, where she awaited the arrival of family members.

While a police moratorium on statistics is still in place, a list compiled by Elliot farming community members show that 15 farmers have been murdered in the Elliot, Ugie and Maclear districts over the past decade.

Selby Vorster, the Elliot Farmers Association chairperson, said they were "devastated" by the attack. "We just don't know what to do any more."

Pieter Erasmus, the Eastern Province Agricultrual Union president, felt that until the government brought the security situation on farms under control, the relentless killing of innocent people would continue. He said it was clear the government was not fulfilling its constitutional obligations in terms of upholding the laws of the country.

AgriSA made an urgent appeal to Steve Tshwete, safety and security minister, to speed up the process of implementing proposals put forward by organised agriculture to address farm attacks.

Dennis Neer, safety and security MEC, expressed his shock at the "brutality of the attack", adding that the presence of the child showed the "callousness of criminals which are roaming around". He commended police for their swift action and said farmers and business owners were particularly vulnerable to crime. - Sapa

Yesterday SABCNews reported that there had been an increase in the rate of farm murders.

Notwithstanding the decline, Agri SA president Japie Grobler yesterday said that his organisation was concerned that President Thabo Mbeki had not responded to their request for an urgent meeting to discuss the issue.

Grobler said that last month alone 13 farmers were killed in 65 farm attacks which occurred mostly in North West, Mpumalanga and the Western Cape. Grobler accused the government of not doing enough to stop the attacks.

Kobus Visser, the Agri SA spokesperson, said: "I think the police and army are really trying their best with their scarce resources to give farmers protection and combat crime in the rural areas."

He said the killing rate dropped last year to 119 farmers killed in 804 attacks from 144 murders in 813 attacks in 1999. But farmers are still being murdered at a rate of one every three days, he said.

However there were two opinions about the reason for attacks on farmers, Visser said, with some seeing attacks as purely criminal and others believing farmers are being targeted to intimidate them and drive them off their land.

According to Visser the 45 000-strong commercial farming community was satisfied that police were trying to improve security for farmers who often live many miles from their nearest neighbour.

Visser said last year's drop was probably also due to increased vigilance by farmers and their greater involvement in combating crime.

The Agri SA numbers could not be confirmed by the police because the government has put a moratorium on the release of all crime statistics while it restructures the way it collates crime data.

Safety and Security Minister Steve Tshwete told Parliament yesterday a committee of experts was being formed to establish the reasons for attacks on farmers.

He promised police four new helicopters costing a total of R140 million ($17,75 million) to improve their reaction times to reports of crime in rural areas.

"Violent crimes on farms will receive special attention. Major operations will be launched this year in the areas where most of these crimes are occurring," Tshwete said. - SABC, Reuters

Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/land_affairs/0,1009,11094,00.html--- 20010213: Farm attacks on the increase says agriculture body February 13, 2001, 18:30 Figures released by Agri South Africa (AgriSA) show that farm attacks in the country are on the increase. Agri SA president Japie Grobler said today that his organisation was concerned that President Thabo Mbeki had not responded to their request for an urgent meeting to discuss the issue.

Despite a moratorium on crime statistics imposed by the government, AgriSA has released figures on farm attacks to the media. The organisation says 119 farmers were killed in 804 farm attacks last year, compared with 144 the previous year.

Grobler said last month alone 13 farmers were killed in 65 farm attacks which occured mostly in the North West province, Mpumalanga and the Western Cape. Grobler accused the government of not doing enough to stop the attacks.

Grobler said that apart from the attacks, farmers were on an economic knife-edge because of indebtedness, poor returns and the increasing costs of intensive agriculture.

Meanwhile, AgriSA today received a financial boost from a well-known motor manufacturer towards its crime fighting project, the Agri Securitas Trust Fund. Grobler said the money would be used towards research into the motives for the farm attacks. - SABC

Jeanne Kriel, 38, was shot twice in the chest when she panicked and tried to run from the robbers on the farm Kromdraai, said police spokesman Senior Superintendent Theo du Bruyn.

He said Kriel's husband was sleeping on a couch in the living room when the two men forced open a door. The intruders proceeded to a bedroom where Kriel was sleeping and forced her to the living room, where she tried run away. The attackers ran after her and shot her dead. Her husband and sons were not hurt.

No arrests had been made in connection with the killing, Du Bruyn said. - Sapa

Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/crime1justice/0,1009,9962,00.html--- Farmer gunned down in White River January 15, 2001, 16:45 Malcolm Potgieter was gunned down in front of his wife earlier today A farmer living near White River in Mpumulanga, has been killed by two armed robbers. Police say the incident occurred in the early hours of this morning. Malcolm Potgieter (62) was shot twice and left to bleed to death, when he and his wife discovered the robbers in their house.

The Potgieters rent one of a number of houses on a small farm a few kilometers south of White River. Neighbours say they heard the shots at around one o'clock this morning but were unsure where they came from.

After Malcolm Potgieter had been shot the robbers tied up his wife and took her into the bedroom just around the corner from where her husband lay.

While one of the men ransacked the house the other sat and talked to her refusing to allow her to help her dying husband.

Glen Mills, a family member said: "This is the most senseless and mindless and heartless part of this whole thing. That a man can kill another man, and sit and agonise his wife and traumatise his wife for nearly two hours under those circumstances."

The robbers made off in the Potgieters' car with a television set, hi-fi, cellphone and other valuables. Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/crime1justice/0,1009,9868,00.html--- North West police on manhunt for attackers of elderly couple January 13, 2001, 19:15 North West police have launched a manhunt for two attackers who stabbed an elderly couple on their farm and appeal for any information that will help the police.

75-year-old Swartruggens farmer Dawie Bishoff and his 71-year-old wife Marie have been released from Koster hospital.

Bischoff said the two suspects broke in by smashing the bedroom window with a hammer, stabbed him with a knife and tied him and his wife up.

The attackers fled with R4 000 in cash, five firearms and the Bishoffs' car, a Toyota bakkie with registration number CJK 730 NW. The Phokeng murder and robbery unit is investigating.

Eighty-five farmers have been attacked in the province since January last year leaving 16 of them dead and 59 injured. - SABC

Advert she places after the murder bemoans the breakdown of law and order SANTOSH BEHARIE

A JOHANNESBURG woman, angered by the cold-blooded murder of her father, launched a personal attack on President Nelson Mandela in a newspaper advertisement this week. Jill Henriques-Henning, the daughter of Gauteng concrete garden-ornament maker Vasco Henriques, said she placed the advertisement in the daily newspaper to show South Africa how she and her family felt about her father's senseless death.

Henriques was shot in the back of the head at his business on his plot near Muldersdrift, on the West Rand, by four armed robbers on Monday. He and his wife, Annie, also lived on the plot.

The advertisement, addressed to Mandela reads: "My father stayed in this country and he was killed.

"Even if we had an effective police and justice system, you would probably let the killers free on your next birthday. So why should we stay?"

This week, HenriquesHenning said she believed the reinstatement of the death sentence was the last hope for crime-riddled South Africa.

"I think it is sick that Mr Mandela says that only real South Africans won't leave the country," she said.

"I am a real South African but I believe in the death sentence beyond anything else. One has to pay for one's crimes."

She said that, on the day of her 64-year-old father's murder, he and his wife were attending to customers at about 10.45am when four armed men confronted them.

"They forced the customers to lie on their stomachs, and stole their jewellery and a cellphone from one of them.

"They then took my dad and Annie into the house and demanded money.

"But my father told them there was no money on the premises.

"One of the men then dragged Annie back outside and, as she stood at the doorway, my dad came out too.

"It's not too clear what exactly happened next, but all we know is that they just shot my father in the back of his head, in cold blood, before fleeing in a beige BMW," she said.

Messages of condolence had poured in from all over South Africa and abroad.

QUEENSTOWN -- Two suspects arrested following the killing of Steynsburg farmer Frans Janse van Rensburg, 27, are due to appear in the town's magistrate's court on Monday, police said yesterday.

Mr Van Rensburg's body was found early this week by a neighbour.

He had been bludgeoned to death in his flatlet on Komkommerhoek farm where he worked as a foreman.

The suspects, aged 34 and 33, are from Kimberley and George and were arrested at Modderrivier near Kimberley after police followed up information that a bakkie stolen from the farm had been spotted in the town.

The white Nissan bakkie BNR 891 EC and a number of goods stolen have not yet been recovered.

Inspector Merleen von Caues said yesterday the two suspects were being held on a charge of being in possession of suspected stolen goods and had not yet been charged with murder.

Investigations by police into the murder were continuing and further arrests could be expected, she said. -- DDR

The bodies of Mr Naude and Mrs Jansen van Vuuren were found in their bedroom. The deceased had succumbed from gunshot wounds at close range. Three (3) firearms (one (1) x 303 rifle, one (1) 7.62mm pistol and one (1) x .22 rifle), a Ford vehicle and electrical appliances were stolen. It is alleged that the suspects gained entrance through a bathroom window. **** Eastern Cape, Addo/Paterson, Farm Hawerford, Mr Engelbrecht, (74) 08:10, 00/07/05.

On 2000/07/07 the body of Mr Engelbrecht was found next to the Slagboom/Addo road. The body was badly bruised and cause of death will be determined.

Mr Engelbrecht arranged to be picked up by Mr Buchner at his house. On arrival of Mr Buchner at the farm of Mr Egelbrecht, Mr Buchner noticed that Mr Engelbrecht’s vehicle was missing. On investigation he noticed that the victim was also missing and that there had been a struggle in the victim’s house. The victim’s 12 bore shotgun and hand weapon was also missing from the house. Mr Engelbrecht has a disability in his left arm and therefore could not drive his own vehicle. A combined search was held by the SAPS, SANDF and airwing. The victim is still missing and upon investigation it has been revealed that the attack had been planned on 03/07/00 by a farm worker and his friends. According to a source the motive for the attack was to kill Mr Engelbrecht and to obtain his firearms and bakkie in order to participate in armed robberies in the area of Port Elizabeth.

Success: Three (3) suspects, all three residing in Paterson Locality, have been arrested with regard to the murder of Mr Engelbrecht. The suspects were to point out where the victim had been left, but due to bad light was unable to do so. Mr Engelbrecht’s vehicle and shotgun (serial no T9012-TZ17531) and eleven (11) rounds, as well as 18 x .22 rounds were recovered at 21344 Enyoko Village, Veeplaas. The investigation continues. **** East London, Farm Mooiplaas, Mr Butt (62), 2000/05/15, 13:00. Three (3) suspects arrived at the farm and pretended to want to buy a goat. Mr Butt and the suspects had an argument over the price of the goat. One (1) of the suspects took out a firearm and shot Mr Butt in the chest, wounding him fatally. The type of firearm used by the suspect is not known at this stage. The suspects robbed the deceased’s .303 rifle and fled from the scene. **** Port Elizabeth, Rocklands, Plot Geduldsfontein, Mr and Mrs Alchin (61), 2000/05/10, 22:00. Mr and Mrs Alchin were in their livingroom when they heard a knock on their front door. Mr Alchin told his wife not to open the door. They then heard a window breaking in the kitchen. Mr Alchim took a golf club and went to investigate. He saw a suspect climbing through the window. He hit the suspect with the golf club, but the club broke. Mr Alchin then left the kitchen, locked the door and went to fetch his shotgun. A shoot-out occurred between Mr Alchin and the suspect. Mrs Alchin phoned neighbours for help. Mr Alchin was shot in the chest and he died on the scene. Remark. SANDF members, together with 14 Commando members responded to the scene and supported the SAPS Murder and Robbery Squad in a follow-up operation. One (1) suspect was arrested. Three (3) suspects are still at large. **** Northern Cape, Upington, Karos Plot 498, Mr P. Richter (78), 2000/08/05.

The body of Mr Richter was discovered in his house. He was stabbed twice with a sharp object - once in the back and once on his left arm. Upon investigation it was found that the burglar bars in the bedroom was sawed off and bended. Blankets, a purse containing and unknown amount of money and one (1) sheep are reported missing. Mr Richter was living alone on the plot. **** Groblershoop, Farm Volgraafsig, Mr and Mrs Volgraaf (73/54) 2000/05/17, 21:00. Mr and Mrs Volgraaf came home and were overpowered and attacked by two (2) suspects, armed with a hammer and a dropper. Mr Volgraaf was seriously injured and Mrs Volgraaf was killed during the incident. Suspects fled in the couple’s vehicle. They were involved in an accident and fled on foot. Remark. No further details available at this stage. Remark. Mr Volgraaf is in a critical condition in the hospital in Bloemfontein. **** Western Cape, Atlantis, Plot San Michells, Mr Mitchell (43), 2000/11/01, 03:30.

According to Mrs Mitchell, Mr Mitchell heard a noise outside and went to investigate. She got worried when her husband did not return to the house and went outside to look for him. Mrs Mitchell found the body of her husband in one of the hot-houses. He was already dead. It is not yet known what the cause of death was and if anything was robbed. **** Western Cape, Klapmuts, Farm Sanice, Mr Van Litsenborgh (69), 2000/09/24, 03:45.

Mr and Mrs Van Litsenborgh were asleep in separate rooms. Mrs Van Litsenborgh woke up when she heard a loud noise. Two (2) suspects, unknown to the victim, then entered her room and threatened her with a firearm. The suspects held the firearm against her head and pulled the trigger twice, but the firearm refused. The suspects then pushed her around and demanded firearms and cash. Mrs Van Litsenborgh opened the safe and the suspects robbed. The suspects robbed cash, jewellery and firearms. The suspects then tied Mrs Van Litsenborgh up and locked her in a storeroom. Mrs Van Litsenborgh’s daughter arrived on the scene and Mrs Van Litsenborgh told her that the suspects were still in the house and requested her to get help. Upon investigation it was found that the suspects had hit Mr Van Litsenborgh with a rifle. His skull burst open and he died instantly. The suspects fled on foot. The couple were selling pigs from the farm. They had trouble with one (1) person who had previously worked for the couple but still lived on the farm. The person had stolen some of the pigs and sold it. A summons has been issued to him to this effect. The other farm workers also accused him of assault. **** Western Cape, Citrusdal, Farm Klipkraal, Mr and Mrs Marais (83/75), 2000/08/07, 18:00.

The bodies of the couple was found in the house. The couple had been shot with their own firearms which had been removed from the weapon safe. Suspects fled with the couple’s bakkie. Two (2) suspects have been arrested. Firearms, binoculars, which were robbed from the couple, and money were found in their possession. The two suspects were temporary workers on the farm. **** KwaZulu-Natal, Wasbank, Farm Niekerkskraal, Mr Sithole (59), 2000/10/26, 10:15.

Mrs Hlenga and her daughter Gabisile (8) were cutting wood in a field on the farm when they were attacked by unidentified suspects. The suspects slit the throats of both females and fled the scene. **** KwaZulu-Natal, Dannhauser, Farm Peachill, Ms Nkabinde (56), 2000/09/20, 06:00.

Ms Nkabinde and her grandchild (9) were alone on the farm when an unknown suspects forced the door open and entered the house. The suspect identified himself as Siphiwe from Durban. He grabbed Ms Nkabinde and strangled her. The grandchild managed to open the window and fled. Ms Nkabinde was found strangled and raped. She died at the scene **** KwaZulu-Natal, Harburg, Farm Brucklay, Farm Workers, 2000/09/01, 20:00.

An unidentified suspect entered a rondavel in the workers village on the farm and demanded money from the occupants. The suspect fired an unknown number of shots with a AK-47 assault rifle, fatally wounding two (2) workers and seriously wounding another. The suspect fled the scene without taking anything. **** KwaZulu-Natal, Utrecht, Farm Tuschenbei, Mr Graham (59), 2000/08/14, 10:00.

On 2000/08/13 three (3) suspects overpowered and held one (1) of the employees hostage on the farm. On 2000/08/14 at 10:00 the suspects attacked Mr Graham, the owner of the farm by firing shots at him with a R-4 rifle and a 9mm pistol. Mr Graham was wounded and died on the scene. The suspects fled in his bakkie. **** KwaZulu-Natal, Port Edward, Farm Florida, Mr Keith (45), 2000/08/08, 04:00. Mr Keith and his employees went to the chicken run to load chickens when he was attacked by four (4) unidentified suspects. The suspects assaulted him with a hammer and strangled him with a piece of wire. The attackers then went inside the house and assaulted Mrs Keith. The suspects robbed Mr Keith’s Isuzu LDV and fled the scene. Mr Keith was taken to hospital where he died of his wounds. **** KwaZulu-Natal, Louwsburg, Wykom Farm, Mr Schmidt, 00/07/29.

Mr Schmidt and his son were travelling between his office and the kraal area, when they picked up two (2) unidentified black males. The suspects fired shots at the victim, fatally wounding him in the neck. Schmidt’s son attempted to flee, but the suspects fired shots at him, injuring him in the buttocks. The suspects then drove to Mr Schmidt’s office, opened the safe and removed an unknown amount of cash. The suspects fled in the complainant’s vehicle, which was later recovered in the Maguto Area. **** KwaZulu-Natal, Helpmekaar, Simbria Farm, Mr Wholberg (66), 00/07/27, 22:00.

The victim and his wife were confronted by two (2) suspects, as they returned from church, requesting water for their motor vehicle. After they had been given the water the suspects produced firearms and forced Mrs Wholberg into the house. A struggle ensued between Mr Wholberg and one of the suspects, who then fired a shot at the victim, fatally wounding him in the mouth. The suspects forced Mrs Wholberg to hand over the keys to the safe. They proceeded to ransack the house. They locked Mrs Wholberg in a room before they fled the scene. **** KwaZulu-Natal, Danhauser, Kliprandkloof, Mr De Wit (63), 00/07/20, 14:30. The victim’s blood stained body was found by a farm worker behind the house. He was beaten to death with a knobkierie. **** Kranskop, Farm Jammersaal, Mr Cele, 2000/06/09, 09:00.

While busy with his daily tasks, Mr Cele, a farm worker, was shot and killed by unknown persons. The motive for the attack is not known. **** Estcourt, Farm Peagan Place, Mrs Lubbe, 2000/05/09, 08:15. Mrs Lubbe was outside her house when she was approached by two (2) suspects who, without warning, shot her in the face, fatally wounding her. Her 14-year old daughter, who was alone in the house, heard the shots and locked the doors. She then phoned the SAPS. The gunmen fled the scene without taking anything. A follow-up operation was launched. No arrests were made. **** Free State, Heilbron, Farm Leeupoort, Mr and Mrs Theron, 2000/08/06, 12:15. Mr and Mrs Theron was overpowered and attacked on their farm by two (2) unknown suspects. The suspects robbed Mr Theron’s .38 revolver. Mr Theron was fatally wounded during the incident. Suspects fled the scene on foot. Mrs Theron made alarm on the Marnet radio. The Heilbron SAPS and Commando reacted and the area was closed off. A combined search was launched during which three (3) private aircraft were utilised. Two (2) suspects were arrested. **** Ficksburg, Farm Waterfall, Mr Radloff (73), 2000/05/11, 18:50.

Two (2) suspects overpowered the farm workers and forced them to take them to the main house. Mr Radloff came out of the house to investigate. The suspects attacked Mr Radloff and assaulted him with pangas and a set of pliers. Farm workers made alarm and SANDF Commando as well as farmers reacted. Two (2) suspects were arrested. Remark. On 1998/07/29 Mrs Radloff was attacked and murdered while her husband was busy extinguishing a veld fire. One (1) suspect was arrested and jailed for 44 years. No connection between the two attacks could be found as yet **** Mpumalanga, Volksrust, Farm Baviaanskloof, Mr Diedericks, 2000/11/19, 07:30.

On 2000/11/19 at 07:30 Mr. Diedericks left abovementioned farm to sell chickens in the nearby township. His wife, Mrs Getruida Jacoba Diedericks (60 years) stayed at home. Mr Diedericks arrived back at 11:30. He was stopped by one of his farm workers before he arrived at the residence. The employee informed him that four (4) young suspects broke into the school across the farmhouse. Mr Diedericks went to the farmhouse but could not found his wife. All the doors were locked. Mr Diedericks then went to the police station. The SAPS accompanied Mr.Diedericks. They found Mrs Diedericks in the lounge sitting with her hands tied and a TV aerial rapped around her neck (the two ends of the aerial were tied to the lounge suite). A piece of blue cloth was found in her mouth. R15 000-00 in cash was found missing. Mrs Diedericks was already dead. It appears as if the suspects locked the back door and took the keys with them. It appears that the deceased was busy in an outside room where chickens were stored in freezers for retail purposes, when the suspects attacked her. Her spectacles were found broken on the floor and a frozen chicken was also lying on the floor. On further investigation one of the windows of the school across the farm house was found broken. It appears as if the suspects slept in the old school building. Property missing from the murder scene was also found in the school. Mr Mkwanazi, one of Mr Diedericks’s employees, identified one of the four suspects that had broken into the school as Nkosinathi Buthelezi. According to Mr Diedericks, Nkosinathi Buthelezi was an employee until a few years ago. He was also one of the persons that escaped during the night of 2000-11-18/19. It is alleged that the other three suspects also escaped together with Nkosinathi Buthelezi. **** Mpumalanga, Nelspruit, Farm Exotica Nursery, Mr Freitos (63), 2000/11/16, 06:45.

On 2000/11/16 at 06:45 Mr Freitos was walking in a cultivated field in front of his house when he was approached by six (6) suspects, armed with a 9mm short pistol. The suspects fired several shots at Mr Freitos. Mr Freitos sustained a gunshot wound to his chest, two to his back and one to his right side. Mr Freitos died on the scene and was dragged into the field, approximately 15m from the house. The suspects robbed the victim of his wristwatch and the remote control for a gate. They used the remote control to gain entry to the yard where after they entered the house and exchanged their clothes with Mr Freitos’s clothes. The suspects then cut the wires of the alarm system and fled from the scene. Mr Freitos’s wife and domestic worker locked themselves in a room during the incident. They were not injured. **** Mpumalanga, Maartenshooop, Farm Rietfontein, Mr (58) and Mrs (49) Botha, 2000/11/16, 02:00.

On 2000/11/16 between 01:00 and 02:00 Mr and Mrs Botha were asleep in their home on the farm Rietfontein. An unknown number of suspects gained entry to the house by opening a window in the livingroom. The suspects then proceeded to the bedroom where they fired several shots at the couple while they were sleeping. Both the complainant and the victim fell from the bed during the incident. Mr Botha sustained three (3) gunshot wounds to his chest as well as one to his left arm. Mr Botha died on the scene. Mrs Botha sustained a gunshot wound to her chest as well as one to her arm. She managed to drive to a neighbouring farm from where the SAPS was contacted. Mrs Botha was admitted to Middelburg Provincial Hospital for medical treatment. A 7,65 mm pistol was used by the suspects during the incident. It is suspected that the motive for the attack was murder, as no vehicles or other items seem to be missing from the premisses. **** Mpumalanga, Belfast, Elandskloof, Mr Ngwenya (32), 00/10/17, 17:15.

The victim was last seen by his wife when he was walking in the direction of a maize field from their compound on the farm. At 17:20 the body of the victim was discovered by the owner of the farmers’ son, Mr. R. Combrink. The SAPS was contacted at 19:00. At the scene the body of the victim was found, lying on his stomach with a shotgun underneath him. The victim sustained a wound to the right side of his back. It is not known if this is a shot- or a stab wound. The shotgun was found with two (2) live rounds and the shotgun was not fired. No blood was found on the body or on the scene. The cause of death is still unknown. **** Mpumalanga, Groblersdal, Toitskraal, Mr Skinner, 2000/09/19, 10:00.

Six (6) suspects overpowered Mr Skinner and shot him, and his dog, fatally wounding him and the dog. The suspects were dressed in brown uniform and were wearing balaclavas. One of the female workers on the farm witnessed the attack. The suspects fled on foot to the road south of the farm where a vehicle was waiting for them. Nothing was reported stolen. No arrests have been made. According to the investigating officer the attack was well planned. The farm was marked with plastic bags in the trees pointing out the farm. The SAPS and the Loskop Commando conducted a cordon and search operation, but without any success. **** Mpumalanga, Piet Retief, Rustplaas, Mr De Beer, 00/07/19.

The body of Mr de Beer was found in a plantation on the farm. His firearm had been stolen from him, but all his personal belongings were still in his possession. **** Mpumalanga, Witbank, Plot 33, Jackaroo, Mr Ncube (41), 2000/07/09, 21:30. On 2000-07-09 at 21:30 Mr Topson Zwelibona Ncube was asleep in his house. Suspects entered his room and fired five (5) shots at him. Ncube’s three (3) daughters, who were sitting outside the house, heard the shots and ran into the house. They saw two (2) suspects running from the house. Mr Ncube was rushed to hospital, where he was certified dead on arrival. Only the deceased’s cellular phone was stolen by the suspects. The suspects were on foot. Five (5) cartridges and five (5) projectiles were found on the scene. The deceased sustained bullet wounds to his head, right cheek , left arm and hand, as well as to his upper leg. **** Mpumalanga, Wakkerstroom, Farm Wydgelegen, Mr Rabe (28), 2000/06/18 - 2000/06/29. On 2000/06/18 Mr Rabe was reported missing from his farm. A large scale combined operation was launched, without success. On 2000/06/26 at 19:45 a worker reported to one of the local farmers that she saw a bakkie in a donga. Upon investigation it was found that it was Mr Rabe’s bakkie in the donga. Mr Rabe’s body was found approximately three (3) metres from the vehicle. The vehicle was severely damaged. The deceased’s firearm was found in his vehicle. During the post mortem examination it was found that Mr Rabe was assaulted with a blunt object on his head. He was then shot once in the head. It was, however, a shot in the heart that eventually killed him. Mr Rabe’s cell phone was missing. Although a hi-fi and some cd’s were missing from the house, the rest of the house was intact and it is not yet established if the hi-fi and cd’s were actually taken by the suspects. It is believed that Mr Rabe was not killed at the scene where his body was found. His body had been thrown onto the back of his bakkie where after it was then driven to the donga where it was pushed down. **** Ogies, Farm Roodepoortjie, Mr Strick (79), 2000/06/05, 18:00.

A farm worker found the body of Mr Strick laying at the backdoor of his house on his farm. Mr Strick was shot at close range in his face with a 12-gauge shotgun. It appeared that the deceased had returned from Ogies town with groceries. Mr Strick was shot with his own shotgun which he always carried with him. When Witbank Commando and Ogies SAPS arrived at the scene, the shotgun and groceries were found by the SAPS approximately 800m from the scene **** Roossenekal, Farm Steynsdraai, Mr and Mrs Van der Woude (75/62), 2000/06/04, 16:00.

Mr and Mrs Van Der Woude were overpowered outside their house by four (4) suspects. Suspects assaulted the couple and tied them up. Mrs Van Der Woude allegedly lost consciousness due to serious head injuries. When she woke up she was undressed and allegedly raped. Mr Van Der Woude was shot and stabbed in the head and chest. He was already dead. Suspects robbed firearms (number and type unknown), cash and household items. A farm worker arrived at the scene and made alarm. **** Hazyview, Farm Carlottes, Mr Summers (35), 2000/05/04, 20:00. Mr Carlottes was overpowered and shot at his garage by an unknown number of assailants. Mr Carlottes died on the scene. Suspects robbed one (1) cell phone, one (1) x 9mm pistol, a video and TV. One (1) suspects was arrested after stolen property was found in his possession. **** Wakkerstroom, Farm Kromhoek, Mr Ras, 2000/05/03, 05:00. Mr Ras took his shotgun and went to investigate why his dogs were barking. He found that the back door of the barn was open. As he entered the barn, an unknown number of suspects overpowered him, grabbed the shotgun and fired a shot. Mr Ras was hit in the chest and he died instantly. The suspects tied his neck to a block-and-tackle and raised his body from a lying position to a sitting position. Suspects then left the scene. The body was found by Mr Ras’s daughter who contacted the Wakkerstroom Commando and SAPS.

Remark.

It appears as if the suspects attempted to steal the wheels of a Volkswagen motor vehicle that was parked inside the barn. The SAPS found the wheen spanner still attached to the wheel nuts on the car as well as a can containing diesel. One (1) x .32 calibre round was also found on the scene. **** North West, Marikana, Plot NA2 Grootfontein, Ms Stobia (55), 2000/10/28, 22:00.

Ms Stobia surprised unknown suspects while breaking into her house. The suspects fired shots, wounding her fatally. It is not known if anything was robbed **** North West, Hartbeesfontein, Farm Rietfontein, Mr Geldenhuys (52), 2000/10/27, 07:45. Five (5) suspects arrived on the farm. One (1) of the suspects remained in the car while another one (1) walked down the farm road. The other three (3) suspects requested to speak with Mr Geldenhuys. The three (3) accompanied Mr Geldenhuys to his office. Shortly afterwards farm workers heard a shot and saw the three (3) suspects running out of the office, jumped into the waiting vehicle and fled. The workers reported the incident to Mrs Geldenhuys who went to the office where she found her husband shot and seriously wounded. She rushed Mr Geldenhuys to the local doctor where he was certified dead. A Mr Van Jaarsveld saw the suspect vehicle and chased after him. He also gave the details of the suspect vehicle through to the SAPS and local commando. Members of the commando saw the vehicle and gave chase. Members of Hartbeesfontein SAPS stopped and arrested the suspects on the Wolmaransstad road. Two (2) pistols were also confiscated. All five (5) suspects arrested hailed from Lenasia, Johannesburg **** North West, Brits, Plot De Kroon, Mr Engelbrecht, 2000/09/11, 20:00. Mr Engelbrecht and his family were in the dining room of their house when they heard glass breaking. Mr Engelbrecht’s son went to investigate. Six (6) suspects confronted the son and forced him to walk in front of them into the room. Mr Engelbrecht grabbed a crow bar from one of the suspects and hit the suspect. One (1) of the other suspects took out a firearm, fired a shot killing Mr Engelbrecht. Mrs Engelbrecht and the children were taken to the bedroom where they were all tied up. The suspects took the key to the safe from Mrs Engelbrecht, opened the safe and robbed an unknown number of firearms. The suspects then ransacked the house, took clothes and electrical appliances and loaded it into Mr Engelbrechts motor vehicle. The suspects fled the scene in the vehicle. Mrs Engelbrecht and the children did not sustain injuries. **** North West, Swartruggens, Farm Vergenoegd, Mr Botes (31), 2000/09/01, 20:00.

Mr Botes went to his parents’ house on the farm. Shortly after he left to walk back to his own house, they heard gun shots. Mr Botes’s wife and his brother investigated and found Mr Botes with two (2) gunshot wounds, one (1) in his chest and one (1) in his head. Mr Botes died on the scene. The motive for the attack is unknown. Mr Botes was a farmer as well as a businessman in Zeerust. It was known that Mr Botes was vigilant and always carried a firearm. The night of his murder he had left the firearm in his house. **** Coligny, Farm Twee Buffels, Mr de Nysschen (64), 2000/06/08.

The body of Mr de Nysschen was found by farm workers in the kitchen of the house. Mr de Nysschen was beaten to death. Mr de Nysschen’s bakkie is missing. **** Amalia, Farm Goudplaas, Mrs Scholtz (70), 2000/05/30, 14:30.

Mrs Scholtz was overpowered by two (2) suspects. Suspects shot Mrs Scholtz with her own .22 revolver. Suspects fled with the firearm. One (1) suspect was arrested. The other suspect, who is still in possession of the firearm, is still at large. According to Mr Scholtz the two suspects arrived on the farm on the morning of 2000/05/30 asking for work. Mr Scholtz employed them and when he went out at approximately 14:00 to see how they were doing, he found his deceased wife. **** Gauteng, Hammanskraal, Plot 42 Grootvlei, Mr De Lange (66), 2000/11/21, 09:30.

Two (2) males arrived on the premises and went to the house with Mr de Lange. The employers heard gunshots from the house where after the suspects fled from the house, got into their motor vehicle and fled. Upon investigation it was found that Mr de Lange had been shot in the head and chest. He died on the scene. An undisclosed amount of cash, as well as cheques are missing. Mr De Lange’s ring, valued at R10 000, was also taken. The suspects had been on the plot previously and pretended that they wanted to come and hire a truck **** Gauteng, Benoni, 100 Boden Street, Mr Spanenberg (67), 00/10/14, 23:45.

Mr Spanenberg and his daughter (32) were shot and killed by two (2) unknown assailants who gained entry to the house by removing a window. The suspects robbed a video machine and a cellular phone before they fled the scene on foot. **** Gauteng, Hammanskraal, Plot 123 Klipdrift, Mr Oosthuizen (76), 2000/10/01-2. The body of Mr Oosthuizen was found lying behind the corner of an outbuilding approximately 30m from the house. Mr Oosthuizen’s hand and feet had been tied and had apparently been struck with a blunt instrument. No arrests have been made. Although not confirmed, it appears as if money was robbed. **** Gauteng, Rayton, Plot 77 Kaalfontein, Mr Grootendorst (37), 00/07/27, 03:00. The victim his family and parents-in-law were sleeping in the house. Four (4) suspects broke the window, got into the house and held up his parents-in-law. Mr F Gootendorst rushed to their bedroom and was fatally wounded when he opened the door. The suspects fled on foot. **** Gauteng, Centurion, Raslow, Baart Road, Mr Van Rensburg, 00/07/27, 21:45. Three (3) armed assailants overpowered the victim as he was closing the gate. One (1) of the assailants fired a shot at the victim killing him. They then robbed household appliances and fled from the scene. **** Gauteng, Muldersdrift, Plot 158 Swartkoos, Mr Mphasa, 00/07/15, 19:15. The victim was in his room with two (2) friends when he heard a knock at the door. As he was opening the door two (2) shots were fired by unknown assailants. He was shot in the stomach and chest and died instantly. The assailants fled from the scene. The motive for the attack is unknown. **** Hekpoort, Hunters Farm, Mr Henderson (44), 2000/05/29, 02:30.

Mr Henderson, who lived alone on a neighbouring farm, went to housesit with a Mr Harry Blignaut while the owner of the house was away. Mr Henderson was asleep on the ground floor when two (2) unknown assailants broke into the house through a window. Assailants attacked Mr Henderson with a pick whereby killing him. Suspects went up to the 1st floor in search of the safe. They attempted to open the safe but were unsuccessful. Mr Blignaut woke up and confronted the suspects. Suspect fled taking only Mr Henderson’s cell phone. No arrests have as yet been made. Mr Henderson recently received threats by evicted vagrants. It could not as yet have been established whether the eviction of the vagrants has any link to the attack. **** Gauteng, Pretoria, Erasmia, Plot Doornrandjies, Mr Kloeck (72), 2000/04/10. One (1) suspect (32) was arrested at the Wattwille-Hostel outside Benoni for the attack and murder on Mr Kloeck. On 11 April 2000 Mr Kloeck’s body was found outside his house. His hands and feet were tied together and he was strangled. Household appliances, were robbed. ****

RIGHTS-FARMERS

DURBAN August 7 2001 Sapa

MORE THAN A 1000 PEOPLE KILLED IN FARM ATTACKS SINCE 1991

Since 1991 more than a thousand people, mostly commercial farmers,have died in 5594 attacks on farms, Agri South Africa said onTuesday. The statistics were released to Sapa by Agri SA director of legaland management services Annelize Crosby, who said they would form part of a submission on behalf of farmers to the SA Human RightsCommission. Agri SA, which represents about 45000 commercial farmers and 35000 emerging farmers, was in the process of compiling a submission onwhat farmers perceived to be human rights abuses against them. Cross said the security issue, apart from land rights, was thesingle most important issue for commercial farmers. Farmersincreasingly felt their basic human rights, as guaranteed in the Constitution, were being ignored by government. On Monday the Democratic Alliance said a lack of security on farmshas resulted in South African farmers now living in "a continuousstate of terror". The SAHRC recently launched a national year-long project toinvestigate human rights abuses on farms under the banners of land rights and tenancy, safety and security and social and economicrights. The commission has asked for submissions from farmers and farm workers alike. Crosby said a submission, made on behalf of the federation'saffiliated agricultural unions, would be finished by the end of theweek. "We will make a written submission and most probably also a verbalsubmission. The material used for our submission will be madeavailable to all our members. We have also called on individualfarmers to make submissions to the commission," Crosby said. The security issue moved back under the spotlight this week whenJohan Stapelberg, 40, and his brother-in-law Hendrik Johannes Uys, 35, were killed during an attack on a farm near Boons in the NorthWest Province on Saturday. The two had reacted to an emergency call from a neighbour. Two days later two more farmers were injured during attacks. The Transvaal Agricultural Union (TAU) on Tuesday said theescalating flood of attacks and barbarism aimed at South Africanfarmers had reached a level at which it could no longer betolerated. TAU president Gert Ehlers said the politicians' silence on theissue only sanctioned these attacks and the state was failingdismally to ensure the rights of the country's people to live in asafe and secure environment. "If the government cannot or will not fulfill this responsibility,they should come out and say so," Ehlers said. According Agri SA statistics farm attacks had increaseddramatically since 1998 and the escalation showed no signs ofslackening off. For the first six months of this year, there had been 461 attacksin which 67 people had been killed. The highest number of attacks on farms - 902 - was recorded lastyear while the highest number of murders was recorded in 1999.

In 1991 there had been 327 attacks and 66 murders, in 1992; 365attacks and 63 murders, in 1993; 442 attacks and 84 murders, in1994; 443 attacks and 92 murders, in 1995; 551 attacks and 120murders, in 1996; 486 attacks and 109 murders, in 1997; 433 attacks and 85 murders, in 1998; 769 attacks and 142 murders, in 1999; 813attacks and 144 murders and in 2000; 902 attacks and 142 murders.

In addition to expressing concern over safety and security, Crosssaid Agri SA would also make a submission on the land rights issue. The federation recently stated that current legislation renderedlandowners helpless against large-scale illegal squatting. The Prevention of Illegal Evictions Act afforded more protection toillegal occupiers than to land owners. East Rand farmer Braam Duvenhage earlier this month attempted toremove about 40,000 illegal occupants from his property atModderklip near Daveyton after obtaining a court order for the eviction of the squatters on his land in May last year. However, the local bailiff refused to remove them bfore the costof eviction, amounting to R1,8 million, had been paid. Agri SA has called on government to review the current legislationto pre-empt more land invasions.The federation will also make submissions on other matters whichaffect farmers and farm workers. These include the deterioration ofrural roads, farm schools, a lack of housing and unemployment inrural areas.---* Posted to CBSA Message Board on 10/10/2002

2002/07/25: Pieter Johannes Venter attacked

25/07/2002 11:41 - (SA) Workers beat farmer's assailant Rustenburg - A man who attacked a farmer with an iron pipe ended up in hospital after he was beaten by farmworkers near Rustenburg, orth West police said on Thursday. Inspector Daniel Chaka said Pieter Johannes Venter (27) was on his way home to his farm Makoeispan near Rustenburg around 19:45 on Wednesday when an attacker apparently confronted him and hit him on the head. Farmworkers arriving at the scene rushed to the farmer?s rescue and attacked the assailant. The suspect was handed to Biesiesvlei police, who took him to Duffs' Court hospital near Sterkfontein. Chaka said paramedics treated Venter at the scene. Source... http://www.wheels24.co.za/News24/South_Africa/NorthWest/0,1113,2-7-835_1219039,00.html--- Private Army

Date : 22 July 2001 Presenter : Michele Alexander Genre : Crime It’s half-past seven in the morning and Lanseria Protection Services (LPS) is holding its weekly parade. The militaristic style of this private security company, with its camouflage uniforms and old SADF emblems, has caused a storm of controversy amongst residents in the area. It is run by Wynand du Toit, a former recce who rose to prominence after being captured behind enemy lines in Angola in the 1980s. He believes the only way to beat crime is by being a dominant, aggressive and visible presence. But some - like local resident Pierre Vorster - believe his tactics are racist, excessive and smack of vigilantism. “You speak also for a number of residents in the Muldersdrift area - these guys are racist. There have been reports of beating up people for no reason whatsoever. We do not want that in our area,” he says. Wynand has no qualms about running his company like a military barracks. He believes discipline is a necessity and this is the best way to enforce it. But whilst Wynand takes pride in the efficiency of his team, questions have been raised about strong-arm tactics. But how factual are these perceptions? Residents Pierre and Anton decided to find out for themselves. Wynand responds to Pierre’s question about allegations of racism: “Anybody involved in crime - whether that person is black, white or coloured - it does not matter to us. We will go after him with the same force that we will do with anybody. But I’ve got quite a couple of black clients that are being treated and given the same service exactly as all our other clients… "...it’s not a question of going over the top. It’s a question of crime having gone over the top. How are you going to stop crime if you are not aggressive? If crime is over the top, should we just carry on as normal or should we also have a more intense way of operating?” asks Wynand. In 1987, Wynand du Toit’s release after two years in an Angolan prison made international news He was part of an exchange at Maputo airport involving 122 Angolan soldiers. But Wynand believes that he has come to terms with his past. In fact, he eventually returned to live in Angola where he made peace with his former captors. “I actually went back in person to have a look at it, talk to the people, talk to the soldiers who were involved in my capture in those days. It was very necessary for me to go back to Angola as part of the healing process. Military-wise, I also don’t have any bitterness about what was, what is and where we are going. In my present position in this security company it was my opinion that if I do it for my comfort zone, which is the military, the subject that I know, if I handle the company with the management skills I’ve learnt in the SADF, then I can make it work,” he says. But have these residents changed their views after their face-to-face encounter with Wynand? “As far as being racist, you cannot label the man as being racist. He has a lot of black staff and black members and he is friendly to them from what we’ve seen. So, no, you cannot label the man as a racist. However, the rumours which we hear, obviously we have no proof of them at this stage... those rumours are definitely racist rumours. So the truth is somewhere between what we’ve heard and what we’ve seen,” says Pierre. But in the suburb of Malanshof, most people are happy with the presence of Wynand’s men, especially since crime has dropped in the area says spokesperson George O’ Reilly. “It amazes me that people want to say that there is a racial problem with the company or that they are right wing and what have you, ad yet it is multi-racial in the suburb... the people that live here... and it is the black people who approached me and asked if I could include them. And nobody has ever said, ‘Chuck these guys out’,” says O’Reilly. The main thrust of Wynand’s business is the creation of elite task-force teams that patrol and respond to calls. Most of them are former police or defence-force personnel. Their clients are mainly residents of smallholdings and plots north west of Johannesburg. Coming under heavy gunfire in shoot-outs with armed robbers is something these crack troops often encounter. Has it come to this - that we need private armies to keep us safe? The Muldersdrift Anti-Crime Action Committee certainly seems to think so. The recent brutal murder of a farmer in the area, Dennis Peters, shocked the community into action. They see Lanseria Protection Services (LPS) as their last resort, says spokesman Redmond Orpen. “We have terrible crime in the country and the people who are supposed to be doing something about it - the police - are in fact doing nothing - nothing to work with. Now in this community we are prepared to pay LPS to do the job for us- a job which the police should be doing,” explains Orpen. But Rietfontein resident, Steven Benjamin, is sceptical: “As an outsider to your company, what I see when I see you guys is a militia-type set up. I see army uniforms, I see rank, I see a section of the old South Africa that’s trying to make a last stand in Muldersdrift.” Wynand’s response to this charge? “I have said it already this morning and that is the fact that crime has surpassed the effectiveness of traditional security. I came to the conclusion that we are only going to beat crime in this area by being dominant, visible and aggressive … if I can save a life because of the clothes I am wearing, then I will do it.” The subject of Wynand’s tactics caused heated debate between Steven and Redmond. Steven: “Redmond, when you say it is a new idea... is it a new idea that when somebody breaks the law, you go in there with your gun blazing, you rip the guy out of his room, you beat the crap out of him and deal with the situation that way? That’s not a new approach, that’s an old approach.” Redmond: “I haven’t heard of LPS behaving like that. They recently raided a very big farm... there were no guns blazing, they got everybody out..” Steve: “Did you hear about the guy that got hit in the mouth with a rifle?” Redmond: “He didn’t get hit with a rifle, he got hit by a man’s elbow. He was drunk, he attacked a man with a machine gun.” However, the police have confirmed that four cases are being investigated against Lanseria Protection Services involving assault, pointing of a firearm, theft and possession of a weapon without a licence. But Wynand says the charge of possession of a firearm without a licence was thrown out of court: “It was not without a licence, it was just that the licence was not with the bearer of the firearm at that time, and not one of the other cases was mentioned to me by the police”. Wynand has even more ambitious plans. He is training his men to parachute into an area where farmers are under attack. Whilst agricultural organisations welcome any initiative that contributes to farm security, they question whether Wynand has the infrastructure to deliver what he promises. But he says that at least he is doing something: “My question is whether I just leave it, ignore it? The fact that there is a need, the fact that the agricultural unions are asking the question whether we would be able to maintain it - I don’t know. But at least I’ve got something on the ground now which can assist until somebody else can make a better plan. "The people have reached the stage where they are fed up with crime in this area. They see a hopeful solution in us. Nobody can say I have not done my utmost best to assist people in this area,” he says. Source... http://www.mnet.co.za/CarteBlanche/Display/Display.asp?Id=1772--- * Posted to CBSA message board on 02/10/2002 2002/07/08: Ruben Wentzel (39) Villa Pax Vryburg

Platjan - A farmer's wife in Limpopo (Northern Province), near the Botswana border, has shot and killed one of five suspected farm attackers. She opened fire on a group of men holding up her husband with firearms. The assailants are believed to be Zimbabweans. Marie van Tonder (31) of Platjan farm near the border post said all she could think of when she grabbed the 270 gun was that she had to protect her husband and two sons. Superintendent Tollie Vreugdenburg of the Bushveld region police said four men arrived by foot on the Van Tonder farm shortly after 08:00 on Monday. Their car reportedly had broke down further down the road. A fifth person, apparently a woman, appears to have stayed in the car. The four men asked Marie's father-in-law, Koos van Tonder (68), for petrol. He replied they had only diesel on the farm. The men left, but returned later. Van Tonder again told them there was only diesel on the farm and he left for the fields. The four men found his son, Christo van Tonder (32), in an outbuilding, pointed a pistol to his head and demanded money. Van Tonder jun told them he had no money, but said he would go home to look for money there. The men told him if he didn't give them money they, would rape all the women in the house. They went with him into the house. Marie said that when she saw the men, all armed, in her lounge and holding a gun to her husband's head, she reacted instinctively. "I realised I had no time to fetch a pistol in my bedroom and grabbed at the nearest gun. My sons came running into the kitchen to see what was going on," she said. She told them to stay out of the kitchen and opened fire on the four men. The men returned the fire and then fled. The Van Tonders escaped unhurt, but at least one of the four men had been badly wounded. Vreugdenburg said the four men fled with their wounded comrade. A fifth person picked them up in the car and sped away towards Swartwater. About 10km further, the car skidded on the dirt road and overturned. Four of the occupants fled on foot and left their wounded friend in the wreck. He died on Monday afternoon of a gunshot wound to the chest. Members of the police, commando and an air force helicopter searched the dense undergrowth for the four and later apprehended a suspect at a bridge across the Mogalakwena River. A woman and a man pretending to herd cattle were detained later. --- Investigation of arson into Muldersdrift fire Posted Thu, 10 Jan 2002

Police are investigating a case of arson in connection with a fire which broke out at Muldersdrift on the West Rand. Several shacks were burnt down and about 50 people have been left homeless. A gang of men went on the rampage at the White Stones Farm last night, setting shacks alight. It’s alleged the torching took place after a quarrel between the owner of the property and the residents of the shacks. The police's Yolande Bouwer says the matter is being investigated and arrests can be expected soon. Source... http://www.702.co.za/news/general/877110.htm--- More than 1 000 people died in farm attacks: Agri SA August 07, 2001, 15:45 Since 1991 more than a thousand people, mostly commercial farmers, have died in 5 594 attacks on farms, Agri South Africa said today. The statistics were released by Annelize Crosby, Agri SA director of legal and management services, who said they would form part of a submission on behalf of farmers to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC). Agri SA, which represents about 45 000 commercial farmers and 35 000 emerging farmers, was in the process of compiling a submission on what farmers perceived to be human rights abuses against them. Cross said the security issue, apart from land rights, was the single most important issue for commercial farmers. Farmers increasingly felt their basic human rights, as guaranteed in the Constitution, were being ignored by government. Yesterday the Democratic Alliance said a lack of security on farms has resulted in South African farmers now living in "a continuous state of terror". Human Rights Commission recently launched national investigationThe SAHRC recently launched a national year long project to investigate human rights abuses on farms under the banners of land rights and tenancy, safety and security and social and economic rights. The commission has asked for submissions from farmers and farm workers alike. Crosby said a submission, made on behalf of the federation's affiliated agricultural unions, would be finished by the end of the week. "We will make a written submission and most probably also a verbal submission. The material used for our submission will be made available to all our members. We have also called on individual farmers to make submissions to the commission," Crosby said. The security issue moved back under the spotlight this week when Johan Stapelberg, 40, and his brother-in-law Hendrik Johannes Uys, 35, were killed during an attack on a farm near Boons in the North West Province on Saturday. The two had reacted to an emergency call from a neighbour. Two days later two more farmers were injured during attacks. Attacks cannot be tolerated says Transvaal Agricultural UnionThe Transvaal Agricultural Union (TAU) today said the escalating flood of attacks and barbarism aimed at South African farmers had reached a level at which it could no longer be tolerated. Gert Ehlers, TAU President, said the politicians' silence on the issue only sanctioned these attacks and the state was failing dismally to ensure the rights of the country's people to live in a safe and secure environment. "If the government cannot or will not fulfil this responsibility, they should come out and say so," Ehlers said. Recorded attacks over past ten years

According Agri SA statistics farm attacks had increased dramatically since 1998 and the escalation showed no signs of slackening off.

For the first six months of this year, there had been 461 attacks in which 67 people had been killed.

The highest number of attacks on farms, 902, was recorded last year while the highest number of murders was recorded in 1999.

Illegal occupations to be raised In addition to expressing concern over safety and security, Cross said Agri SA would also make a submission on the land rights issue. The federation recently stated that current legislation rendered landowners helpless against large scale illegal squatting. The Prevention of Illegal Evictions Act afforded more protection to illegal occupiers than to land owners. East Rand farmer Braam Duvenhage earlier this month attempted to remove about 40 000 illegal occupants from his property at Modderklip near Daveyton after obtaining a court order for the eviction of the squatters on his land in May last year. However, the local bailiff refused to remove them before the cost of eviction, amounting to R1,8 million, had been paid. Agri SA has called on government to review the current legislation to pre-empt more land invasions. The federation will also make submissions on other matters which affect farmers and farm workers. These include the deterioration of rural roads, farm schools, a lack of housing and unemployment in rural areas. - Sapa Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/crime1justice/0,1009,18954,00.html--- Farm killings to be observed by International Community July 19, 2001, 14:30 Dr. Mulder of the Freedom Front believes the government is not doing enough The Freedom Front says it will engage the international community in an effort to highlight security issues of the farming community. Pieter Mulder, the Freedom Front's leader is to hand over a memorandum dealing with the erosion of Afrikaner security in South Africa, to the United Nations International Human Rights Commission. The Freedom Front says farm attacks and murders are part of a concerted anti-Afrikaner campaign. The party says although the general murder rate in the country is declining, farm murders are on the rise. It says more farmers were killed this year than last year and that they are being orchestrated for political gain. Mulder says in 25% of the cases nothing is taken and that in the last one nothing was taken at all. The farmer was just left after being killed. He says that this is strange and that it is not normal. Mulder declined to name those he believes are behind the attacks saying he needs more information before going public. But he says the time's come to deal with the issue on an international stage instead of just locally with a government that does little to ease the problem. He reiterated that for seven years they've tried every possible measure inside South Africa and that they will continue with it but that they think it is time that they bring international attention to the issues as there seems to be no other way around it. The Freedom Front says it wants the International Human Rights Commission to place the issue of farm attacks and murders on the international agenda. One such forum for this, it says, is the upcoming International Conference Against Racism in Durban in September.

Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/politics/the_parties/0,1009,18003,00.html--- Ignatius van Rooyen: shot in his bakkie -- Northwest officials visit scene of farm murder July 18, 2001, 18:45 A Northwest government delegation has visited the scene of a farm killing at Rietkuil near Potchfestroom. The victim, 43-year-old Ignatius van Rooyen, was shot in his bakkie about 200 metres from his house. The incident is the second in the area within a month. A farmer was ambushed in similar fashion at Delareyville two weeks ago. Provincial officials came to pay their condolences to the bereaved family. They've promised that every effort will be made to bring the perpetrators to book. The motive for the attack on Van Rooyen is not yet clear. Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/crime1justice/0,1009,17969,00.html--- Potchefstroom farmer shot to death Ignatius Michael van Rooyen July 17, 2001, 07:45 Police say a 43-year-old farmer was found dead on the farm Rietkuil in the Potchefstroom district last night. A farm worker found Ignatius Michael van Rooyen in his bakkie about 200 metres from his house at 7:00 pm. Van Rooyen had been shot in the left shoulder blade. The worker alerted van Rooyen's brother and father on a neighbouring farm. Emergency services were called to the scene and van Rooyen was pronounced dead. Police say preliminary investigations suggested that a shotgun was used in the murder. It appears as if Van Rooyen, who lived alone, was shot outside his bakkie at the gate to his farmyard. He then got into the car and sped off, most probably to escape his attackers. He drove through a fence before the vehicle stopped. The motive for the attack was not known as nothing was taken from the house or bakkie. The suspects are believed to have fled on foot. Various police units, farmers, members of the local commando as well as emergency and disaster management are searching for the killers. - Sapa Source... http://www.sabcnews.co.za/south_africa/crime1justice/0,1009,17889,00.html---

The term "genocide" was coined by legal scholar Raphael Lemkin in 1943, writing:

'Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actionsaiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves.

The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of personal security, liberty, health, dignity and lives of the members of such groups... '